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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
SCHOOL SCIENCE SERIES 


NATURE-STUDY 


Editor 

ELLIOT ROWLAND DOWNING 












OUR LIVING WORLD 









THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY 
NEW YORK 

THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 


LONDON 


THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI 


THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY 
SHANGHAI 

















WATER NYMPHS 


















OUR LIVING 
WORLD 

A Source Book of Biological Nature-Study 
By 

ELLIOT ROWLAND DOWNING 

The School of Education , University of Chicago 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO ILLINOIS 



















Copyright roig and 1924 By 
The University of Chicago 


All Rights Reserved 


Published May 1919 
Second Impression December 1919 
Third Impression December 1921 
Fourth Impression December 1922 
Second Edition September 1924 



Composed and Printed By 
The University of Chicago Press 
Chicasro. Illinois. U.S.A. 

NOV 18 

© Cl A 808856 


» 




GENERAL PREFACE 


Never before in this country has there been so insistent a 
demand for a more thorough and more comprehensive system 
of instruction in practical science. Forced by recent events 
to compare our education with that of other nations, we have 
suddenly become aware of our negligence in this matter. Now 
industrial and educational experts and commissions are united 
in demanding a change. 

While on the whole there has been a steady increase in the 
amount of time given to science work in the secondary and 
elementary schools, the attention paid to it, especially in the 
elementary schools, has been somewhat spasmodic, and its 
administration has been more or less chaotic. This is not due 
to lack of interest on the part of school officials but to their 
dissatisfaction with the methods of instruction employed. There 
is no doubt that superintendents would gladly introduce more 
science if they felt sure that the educational results would be 
commensurate with the time expended. This is indicated by a 
recent survey of about one hundred and fifty cities in seven 
states of the Central West. The survey shows that two-thirds 
of them have nature-study in the elementary schools and that all 
are requiring some science for graduation from the high school. 
The average high school is offering three years of science. 
Moreover, greater attention is now being paid to the training of 
teachers in methods of presentation. 

The chief need in science instruction today is a more efficient 
organization of the course of study with a view to its socialization 
and practical application, and it is to meet this need that this 
series is being issued. The books of the Nature Study Series 
attempt to present such generalizations of science as the average 
pupil should carry away from his school experience and to organ¬ 
ize them for the preparation of the teacher and for presentation 

vii 


GENERAL PREFACE 


viii 

to the class. The volumes will therefore be of two kinds: 
(i) source books with accompanying field and laboratory guides 
for the use of students in normal schools and schools of education, 
and of teachers; and (2) pupils’ notebooks. In the former the 
material will be organized with special reference to the training 
of the teacher and the most effective methods of presenting 
the subject to students. In the latter the matter will be simpli¬ 
fied, graded, and arranged in such a way that the books will 
serve as guides in nature work for the pupils themselves. More¬ 
over, they will furnish texts for the grades that will simplify 
the teacher’s task of presentation and will assure well-tried and 
well-organized experiences, on the part of the pupil, with natural 
objects. Such experiences are the best foundation for the science 
instruction of the high school. 


AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION 


The constantly changing point of view in education, the 
ever widening outlook of science and its new applications, make 
it necessary that the teacher be provided, every few years, with 
a restatement of the subject-matter of science available for 
instruction. This volume Our Living World (formerly entitled 
Source Book of Biological Nature-Study ) undertakes to make 
significant some of the commonplace environment and to suggest 
ways in which living material may serve educational ends. 

The great contributions of science to the life of mankind are: 
its emphasis on the scientific mode of thinking or the problem- 
seeing, problem-solving attitude of mind; a mass of scientific 
knowledge that serves as the basis for desirable skills; and an 
interpretation of nature productive of an inspiring appreciation, 
both intellectual and aesthetic, of her phenomena. Science 
instruction needs to bring these things home to the individual 
pupil. 

The material here presented is therefore thrown into problem 
form, is selected for its social and practical values, and yet is 
commonplace, so that the everyday things may stand revealed 
as the wonders they really are. The book is to be read in con¬ 
nection with the work outlined in the Field and Laboratory Guide 
in Biological Nature-Study . It is hoped that through the teachers 
the practical knowledge and inspiring spirit of science may be 
passed on to the pupils. 

Elliot R. Downing 

The University of Chicago 
The School of Education 
August 19, 1924 



I 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

List of Illustrations. xiii 

CHAPTER 

I. Animals of Pond and Stream . i 

II. Insects.57 

III. Insects and Insect Allies. 98 

IV. Birds. 141 

V. Animal Companions.192 

VI. Wayside Flowers.235 

VII. Common Trees.309 

VIII. Seeds and Seedlings.371 

IX. The Garden. 410 

X. Spore-Bearers.450 

Appendix. 494 

Index. 497 


XI 





























































































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Water Nymphs .. Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Fig. i.—Making the Net. 3 

Fig. 2.—The Aquarium in the Making. 4 

Fig. 3.—Water Plants for the Aquarium. 6 

Fig. 4.—A Land Snail (Polygyra thyroides ) Crawling on the 

Ground . 8 

Fig. 5.—Snail, Showing Parts. 9 

Fig. 6.—Various Species of Polygyra .10 

Fig. 7.—Water Snails, Showing Generic Characters ... 11 

Fig. 8.—Land Snails.12 

Fig. 9.—A Clam Shell and Clam.13 

Fig. 10.—The Slug (.Philomicus caroliniensis ) and Its Eggs . . 14 

Fig. 11.—The Slug, Agriolimax .16 

Fig. 12.—A Pupil’s Blackboard Drawing of a Crayfish ... 17 

Fig. 13.—The Clay Chimney of a Common Well-digging Cray¬ 
fish, Cambarus diogenes .19 

Fig. 14.—Some Fresh-Water Crustaceans.23 

Fig. 15.—A Dragon Fly, a Pupil’s Drawing.28 

Fig. 16.—The Molt Skin of a Dragon-Fly Nymph, Side and Back 

Views.30 

Fig. 17.—Some Aquatic Insects and Nymphs.31 

Fig. 18.—Larva and Adult of Caddis Fly.32 

Fig. 19.—Aquatic Insects and Nymphs.35 

Fig. 20.—The Diving Spider . . 4 1 

Fig. 21.—The Mensbrugghe Float.4 2 

Fig. 22.—Development of the Frog’s Egg.44 

Fig. 23.—The Bullfrog.46 

Fig. 24.—The Pickerel Frog. 47 

Fig. 25.—The Wood Frog.48 

Fig. 26.—The Tree Frog, Hyla versicolor .49 

Fig. 27.—The Western Painted Tortoise, a Student’s Drawing 50 

Fig. 28.—The Snapping Turtle. 5 1 

Fig. 29.—The Common Box Turtle. 5 2 

Fig. 30.—The Common Sunfish. 53 

Fig. 31.—The Stickleback. 54 

Fig. 32.—Insect Cage. 57 

xiii 




























xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACE 

Fig. 33.—The Locust, Showing Mouth Parts ...... 5 3 

Fig. 34—The Cricket, a Pupil’s Drawing. 59 

Fig. 35.—The Wing and Ear of the Cricket.6d 

Fig. 36.—Locust Laying Eggs, and the Egg Masses .... 61 

Fig. 37.—Locust and Grasshopper.62 

Fig. 38 .—A Plague of Locusts.. 63 

Fig. 39.—The Katydid.64. 

Fig. 40.—The Walking Stick.. 65 

Fig. 41.—The Cockroach and Her Egg Case.66 

Fig. 42.—Different Species of Grasshoppers.68 

Fig. 43.—The Tomato Worm.69 

Fig. 44.—The Tomato-Worm Moth and Its Chrysalis .... 70 

Fig. 45.—Head of a Moth, Showing Antennae and Sucking-Tube 71 

Fig. 46.—A Butterfly Feeding.71 

Fig. 47.—The Larva of Cecropia .72 

Fig. 48 .—Cecropia Cocoons and the Moth.73 

Fig. 49.—The Hickory-horned Devil.74 

Fig. 50 .—Polyphemus Stretching Its Wings.75 

Fig. 51.—Cocoons of Parasite on Larva.76 

Fig. 52.—Silkworms Spinning and Some of the Finished Cocoons 77 

Fig. 53.—Female Tussock Moth and Her Cocoon.78 

Fig. 54.—Male Tussock Moth.79 

Fig. 55.—Brown-tailed and Gypsy Moths.80 

Fig. 56.—Insects That Prey upon the Brown-tailed and Gypsy 

Moths.82 

Fig. 57.—The Apple Worm.83 

Fig. 58.—Spraying Apple Trees.84 

Fig. 59.—The Clothes Moth.85 

Fig. 60.—Life-History of the Monarch Butterfly .... 88 

Fig. 61.—The Viceroy Butterfly.89 

Fig. 62.—The Fritillary Butterfly.91 

Fig. 63.—The Dog’s Head Butterfly.92 

Fig. 64.—The Painted Lady. ... 93 

Fig. 65.—A Hairstreak . . 93 

Fig. 66.—The Chrysalis of the Black Swallowtail .... 94 

Fig. 67.—The Giant Swallowtail.94 

Fig. 68.—A Pupil’s Cover Design.97 

Fig. 69.—Queen, Workers of Several Sorts, and Males in the 

Ant House. 

Fig. 70.—Cutting Glass .roo 

Fig. 71.—Worker, Queen, Drone .103 

































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XV 

PAGE 

Fig. 72.—Children Watching the Removal of Honey from Hive 107 

Fig. 73.—Front and Rear Views of Demonstration Beehive . 109 

Fig. 74.—The Paper Wasp’s Nest.112 

Fig. 75.—Mud Dauber’s Nest.113 

Fig. 76.—Digger Wasps and Holes.114 

Fig. 77.—The Cicada Killer.115 

Fig. 78.—The Squash Bug.116 

Fig. 79.—Plant Lice.117 

Fig. 80.—The Cockscomb Gall of the Cottonwood 118 

Fig. 81.—The Potato Beetle.119 

Fig. 82.—The Potato Beetle’s Routes of Migration . . . 120 

Fig. 83.—Map Showing Invasion of the Cotton-Boll Weevil . 121 

Fig. 84.—The Fiery Hunter and the Searcher Beetles. . 122 

Fig. 85.—Tiger Beetles on Sand. 123 

Fig. 86.—The Horned Passalus and Its Larva, a Wood Borer . 124 

Fig. 87.—The Eyed Elater and Its Larva.124 

Fig. 88.—A Long-horn Beetle.125 

Fig. 89.—Nine-Spotted Ladybird Beetle and Its Larva . . . 125 

Fig. 90.—Flies.126 

Fig. 91.—Beetle Collection.128 

Fig. 92.—The Spreading-Board and Cyanide Bottle . . . . 129 

Fig. 93.— Sporobolus , the Millipede.131 

Fig. 94.—Front View of Spider ( Lycosa ), Showing Mandibles 

and Palps.1.32 

Fig. 95.—A Spider’s Spinnerets.132 

Fig. 96.—The Orb Builder, Argiope ..135 

Fig. 97.—Wolf Spider with Egg Cocoons.136 

Fig. 98.—The Woven Nest of the Oriole.144 

Ftg. 99.—Nest of Woodcock on the Ground.145 

Fig. ioo.—Young Tern and Egg on Rocky Shore.145 

Fig. ioi.—Nest of Herring Gull.146 

Fig. 102.—Nest of Brown Thrasher.146 

Fig. 103.—Nest of Aigrette Heron.147 

Fig. 104.—Nest of Cliff Swallow.147 

Fig. 105.—Nest of Marsh Wren.148 

Fig. 106.—Robin at Nest, Feeding Young, and Young in Nest . 150 

Fig. 107.—The Golden-crowned Kinglet.151 

Fig. 108.—The Chickadee.I 5 1 

Fig. 109.—Red-breasted Nuthatch . x 5 2 

Fig. no—T he Brown Creeper .. *53 

Fig. iii.—The Black-throated Green Warbler.154 






























XVI 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Fig. 112—The Brown Thrasher.154 

Fig. i 13.—Head of Barn Swallow.155 

Fig. 114.—HeadofTowhee.155 

Fig. 115.—Head of Pigeon.156 

Fig. i 16.—The Spotted Sandpiper.156 

Fig. 117.—The American Bittern.157 

Fig. 118.—Least Bittern Watching for Fish.158 

Fig. 119.—Head of Black Duck.159 

Fig. 120.—Head of Sparrow Hawk.159 

Fig. 121.—Head and Tongue of Downy Woodpecker .... 160 

Fig. 122.—Head of Woodcock.160 

Fig. 123.—Foot of Florida Gallinule.161 

Fig. 124.—Primary Feather from Wing of Herring Gull . . 161 
Fig. 125.—Food Chart Showing Proportions of Foods in Diet of 

Some Common Birds.163 

Fig. 126.—Migration Routes of Golden Plover.171 

Fig. 127.—Migration Routes of Mourning Warbler . . . . 172 

Fig. 128.—Migration Routes of Bobolink.174 

Fig. 129.—Nest Box for Woodpecker.178 

Fig. 130.—Purple Martin House.180 

Fig. 13 i.—The Bird Bath.181 

Fig. 132.—The Outdoor Feeding Shelf.182 

Fig. 133.—Sparrow on Feeding Shelf Outside a Window . . 183 

Fig. 134.—Wire Trap for Sparrows.184 

Fig. 135.—Pattern for Sparrow Trap.185 

Fig. 136.—Patterns of First and Second Funnels.186 

Fig. 137.—Cat Trap.187 

Fig. 138.—Chums.194 

Fig. 139.—The Indoor Cage.196 

Fig. 140.—Animal Houses at Gary, Indiana.197 

Fig. 141.—A White Short-haired Cavy or Guinea-Pig ... 198 

Fig. 142.—The Flying Pen for Pigeons.200 

Fig. 143.—Prairie Dog in School Animal Cage.202 

Fig. 144.—A Pet Blue Racer.203 

Fig. 145.—The Chipmunk Eating.204 

Fig. 146.—A Doe in the Forest Home.205 

Fig. 147.—Skull of Beaver and Tree He Cuts.206 

Fig. 148.—A Tame Muskrat.207 

Fig. 149.—Muskrat Houses on a Snow-covered Swamp . . . 210 

Fig. 150.—The Sheep Pen.214 

Fig. 151.—Sketches of Chicken.218 
































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii 

PAGE 

Fig. 152.—Rhode Island Red Rooster and Boy Caretakers . . 219 

Fig. 153.—The Chicken Coop.221 

Fig. 154.—The Trap Nest.222 

Fig. 155.—Hybrid Chickens and Mother. . . 224 

Fig. 156.—The Dairy Type of Cow.227 

Fig. 157.—Coyote in School Pen.233 

Fig. 158.—A Student’s Cover Design.234 

Fig. 159.—Soapwort.236 

Fig. 160.—Leaf of Ribwort, Showing Fibrovascular Bundles . 237 

Fig. 161.—Wild Mustard, Showing Parts of the Flower . . 238 

Fig. 162.—Forming Seed Pods in Evening Primrose .... 239 

Fig. 163.—Mandrake Apples in Formation.240 

Fig. 164.—Diagram of Fertilization.240 

Fig. 165.—The Chicken’s Egg.241 

Fig. 166.—Field Milkweed.242 

Fig. 167.—Dogbane.243 

Fig. 168.—Prickly Lettuce.244 

Fig. 169.—Sow Thistle.245 

Fig. 170.—Spurge . 246 

Fig. 171.—Snow-on-the-Mountain.247 

Fig. 172.—Poison Ivy. v .247 

Fig. 173.—White Sweet Clover, Melilotus .248 

Fig. 174.—Cow Vetch . . 249 

Fig. 175.—Wood Sorrel.250 

Fig. 176.—Cinquefoil.251 

Fig. 177.—Weeds of the Parsnip Family.252 

Fig. 178.—Large Morning-Glory Bindweed.254 

Fig. 179.—Wild Buckwheat or Black Bindweed.254 

Fig. 180.—Passion Flower.255 

Fig. 181.—Dodder on Hollyhock. 255 

Fig. 182.—Knotweed.256 

Fig. 183.—Chickweed.257 

Fig. 184.—Purslane.258 

Fig. 185.—Low Amaranth.258 

Fig. 186.—Ground Ivy.259 

Fig. 187.—Cheese Weed. 259 

Fig. 188.—Bedstraw.260 

Fig. 189.—Mullein.261 

Fig. 190.—Common Plantain.262 

Fig. 191.—Ribwort.263 

Fig. 192.—Curly Dock.264 





































xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Fig. 193'.—Fruits of Various Docks.265 

Fig. 194.—Russian Thistle.265 

Fig. 195.—Bull Thistle.266 

Fig. 196.—Canada Thistle.266 

Fig. 197.—Buffalo Bur ..267 

Fig. 198.—Horse Nettle.268 

Fig. 199.—Leaf and One Fruit of Cocklebur ..269 

Fig. 200.—Sand Bur.270 

Fig. 201.—Large-leaved Dock or Burdock.270 

Fig. 202.—Beggar-Tick in Blossom.271 

Fig. 203.—Beggar Tick Fruit.272 

Fig. 204.—Hound’s-Tongue.272 

Fig. 205.—Jimson Weed . . . . •.273 

Fig. 206.—Corn Cockle.273 

Fig. 207.—Bladder Campion.274 

Fig. 208.—Milkweed Blossom.274 

Fig. 209.—Blue Vervain.275 

Fig. 210.—Wild Hemp.276 

Fig. 211.—Giant Ragweed ..277 

Fig. 212.—Wild Onion in Blossom.278 

Fig. 213.—Western Yarrow ..279 

Fig. 214.—Dog Fennel .•.279 

Fig. 215.—Peppermint.280 

Fig. 216.—Spearmint. 280 

Fig. 217.—Horehound.280 

Fig. 218.—Pennyroyal.280 

Fig. 219.—Catnip.281 

Fig. 220.—Crab Grass.281 

Fig. 221.—Old Witch Grass, or Spreading Panicum .... 282 

Fig. 222.—Barnyard Grass.283 

Fig. 223.—Squirreltail Grass. 284 

Fig. 224.—Quack Grass.284 

Fig. 225.—Butter and Eggs . 284 

Fig. 226.—-New England Aster.284 

Fig. 227.—Oxeye Daisy. 285 

Fig. 228.—Smart weed.286 

Fig. 229.—Sheep Sorrel.287 

Fig. 230.—Pokeweed.288 

Fig. 231.—Tall Amaranth or Pinkroot.289 

Fig. 232.—Lamb’s-Quarters.290 

Fig. 233,—Black Nightshade ..291 











































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix 

PAGE 

Fig. 234.—Peppergrass.' .292 

Fig. 235.-^-Shepherd’s-Purse. . 293 

Fig. 236.—Daisy Fleabane.294 

Fig. 237.—Wormwood.295 

Fig. 238.—Common Wild Mustards, Showing Stem, Leaves, and 

Pods. 296 

Fig. 239.—The Straight Stem of a Conifer.310 

Fig. 240.—Twigs of the Evergreens, a Pupil’s Drawings . . 312 

Fig. 241.—Twigs of Horse Chestnut, Carolina Poplar, and 

Ailanthus.314 

Fig. 242.—The Unfolding of the Horse Chestnut Bud. . . . 315 

Fig. 243.—Palmately and Pinnately Compound Leaves . . .316 

Fig. 244.—Fruits of Ash and Maple.. 317 

Fig. 245.—A Sugar-Maple Grove ..318 

Fig. 246.—Blossom Clusters of Flowering Dogwood . . . .319 

Fig. 247.—Lombardy Poplars.320 

Fig. 248.—White Poplars as a Wind Shield.321 

Fig. 249.—A Black Willow.322 

Fig. 250.—Trunk of the Black Cherry.323 

Fig. 251.—Trunks of the Hackberry and the Beech .... 324 

Fig. 252.—A Walnut Twig to Show Chambered Pith .... 325 

Fig. 253.—Trunk of Water Beech.326 

Fig. 254.—An American Elm.327 

Fig. 255.—A White Oak.328 

Fig. 256.—Leaves and Acorns of the Oaks.329 

Fig. 257.—Ginkgo Leaf.330 

Fig. 258.—Linden Fruit.331 

Fig. 259.—A Black Locust.332 

Fig. 260.—Persistent Pods on a Honey Locust.333 

Fig. 261.—Cattle-trimmed Hawthorns.334 

Fig. 262.—Sweet Gum, Branches and Fruit.336 

Fig. 263.—Witch-Hazel Fruit.337 

Fig. 264.—Twig of the Tag Alder.337 

Fig. 265.—Mulberry Leaves, Showing Variations in Form . . 338 

Fig. 266.—A Hard Maple, a Pupil’s Drawing.340 

Fig. 267.—A Student’s Title-Page.345 

Fig. 268.—Longitudinal Section of a Stem.348 

Fig. 269.—Cross-Section of Ash Stem.349 

Fig. 270.—Diagrams of Willow Whistle.350 

Fig. 271.—Map Showing National Forest Reserves .... 352 

Fig. 272.—Redwood Trees in a National Forest.355 






























XX 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Fig. 273.—A Burned-over Region.356 

Fig. 274.—A Closer View of the Burn.357 

Fig. 275.—Pine Seedlings under Old Trees.358 

Fig. 276.—Replanting Forest Land.360 

Fig. 277.—The Flower Show.372 

Fig. 278.—The Apple Display.377 

Fig. 279.—Sprayed and Unsprayed Apples.378 

Fig. 280.—Bean Seedlings.380 

Fig. 281.—Tumbler Germinator.381 

Fig. 282.—Root Hairs of the Radish.382 

Fig. 283.—Growing Plants in Pots to Show Effects of Soil 

Elements. ... 385 

Fig. 284.—Colored Girl Canning Tomatoes.392 

Fig. 285.—Home Canning Club Member Using Wash Boiler . . 393 

Fig. 286.—Breathing Pores in Epidermis of Leaf.396 

Fig. 287.—Method of Breaking Glass Tubing . . . . . . 402 

Fig. 288.—Method of Bending Glass Tubing.403 

Fig. 289.—The School Garden.411 

Fig. 290.—Planting the Garden.412 

Fig. 291.—Bulbs Indoors.416 

Fig. 292.—Taking Plant Out of Pot to Transplant .... 421 

Fig. 293.—Setting Out Plants from Pots.422 

Fig. 294.—The Tomato Plot, Showing Plants Tied up to Stakes . 423 

Fig. 295.—A Back-Yard Garden.428 

Fig. 296.—A Farm Boy’s Acre of Onions.429 

Fig. 297.—The Method of Grafting.432 

Fig. 298.—A Well-pruned Young Fruit Tree and an Old One 

That Was Not Well Trimmed When Young . . 433 

Fig. 299.—A Well-kept Lawn.435 

Fig. 300.—A Well-cultivated Corn Patch.442 

Fig. 301.—Howard County Pig-Club Boy and His Pig . . . 444 

Fig. 302.—Georgia Pig-Club Champion.445 

Fig. 303.—Clifford Duncan and His Prize Calf.446 

Fig. 304.—A Protected Puffball ( Geaster ) on the Sand . . .451 

Fig. 305.—A Fern Frond of Rock Polypody to Show Clusters of 

Spore Cases.452 

Fig. 306.—A Black Mold.453 

Fig. 307.—Yeast Plant Seen under the Microscope .... 458 

Fig. 308.—Bacterial Colonies on Gelatin in Petri Dish . . 460 

Fig. 309.—Edible Mushrooms.468 

Fig. 310.—The Little Inky-Cap Fungus.469 





























LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxi 

PAGE 

Fig. 31 i—The Large Inky-Cap Fungus (Sketch).470 

Fig. 312.—Mushrooms Springing up from the Roots of a Cotton¬ 
wood That Had Been Cut Down.471 

Fig. 313.—Deadly Amanita.471 

Fig. 314.—The Oyster-Shell Fungus Growing on an Oak Stump. 472 

Fig. 315.—The Edible Morel.473 

Fig. 316.—Bracket Fungi on Maple Log.474 

Fig. 317.—The Fairy Ring Fungus.474 

Fig. 318.—The Shaggy-Cap Fungus in Section.475 

Fig. 319.—Part of a Filament of a Pond Scum ( Spirogyra ), Show¬ 
ing the Coiled Green Chloroplast in the Cell . 476 

Fig. 320.—A Fibrous Lichen Pendent from Spruce Twig . 478 

Fig. 321.—Reindeer Moss.478 

Fig. 322.—The Pyxie Lichen.479 

Fig. 323.—A Lichen Found on Tree Trunks, Showing the Spore- 

Bearing Cups.480 

Fig. 324.—The Hairy-Cap Moss.481 

Fig. 325.—The Urn Moss.481 

Fig. 326.—The Cord Moss.481 

Fig. 327.—The Bracken Fern.482 

Fig. 328.—The Rock Polypody Fern.483 

Fig. 329.—The Sensitive Fern, Underground Stem and All . 484 

Fig. 330.—Cinnamon Fern.485 

Fig. 331.—A Frond of Clayton’s Fern.486 

Fig. 332.—Spore-bearing and Sterile Fronds of the Royal Fern 486 

Fig. 333.—The Grape Fern.487 

Fig. 334.—The Evergreen Christmas Fern with Underground 

Stem.488 

Fig. 335.—Frond of the Oak Fern.488 

Fig. 336.—Two Species of Horsetail.489 

Fig. 337.—Strobilus and a Single Spore of the Horsetail . . 490 

Fig. 338.—The Trailing Club Moss.490 





















CHAPTER I 

ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 

Childhood’s interests.—Above all other professions teaching 
demands constant rejuvenation, and the successful teacher must 
find that fountain of perpetual youth in order to see the child’s 
point of view. Do you recall Aunt Jane’s remark in Rebecca of 
Sunnybrook Farm? “Yes; I was, thank the Lord! I only wish 
I had known how to take a little of my foolishness of childhood 
along with me to brighten my declining years.” The teacher 
needs to take much of the foolishness of childhood along with her 
and needs also to be persuaded that it is not altogether foolish. 
How we elders do assume superiority and try to stamp our ideas 
of the true values of things upon the children! It was a very 
great teacher, however, who set a child in their midst and com¬ 
mended the child’s judgment of relative values. Certainly it 
behooves the nature-study teacher to hark back to childhood’s 
days and recall the centers of interest. 

The pond.—Do you remember the pond just over the hill? 
Or perchance it was a brook that meandered through the meadow. 
What a place of delight it was! How pleasant the water seemed 
as it rippled over bare feet! What imaginary animals lurked 
along the sedgy margin! What mysteries were hidden in the 
depths of the pond! How intimately you knew the big bullfrog 
that croaked with a muffled roar, or the green frog whom your 
splashing stone sent plunging from the floating log! Can you 
recall the delight of knowing the tiny, wiggling denizens that 
made the shallows a populous tenement? Do you remember 
the time spent in dabbling along the muddy shore, prodding its 
crannies with eager interest, and coming home with your nether 
garments much bedraggled ? As surely as the frogs in ponds 
and ditches begin their chorus in the spring, so surely does the 


2 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


small boy or girl also become amphibious. Let the teacher revert 
to early days and join the group of interested waders. 

The inhabitants .—Sit down beside the margin of the pond and 
watch the never-ceasing round of activity displayed by its in¬ 
habitants. The soft mud along the shore is furrowed with con¬ 
tinuous but erratic lines at the end of each of which a snail is 
plowing its way slowly along as it feeds. A similar army of 
slow-moving explorers crawls over rocks and water weeds. 
There are long spirally twisted fellows, short globular ones, flat 
coiled forms, and their sizes are as varied as their shapes. Out 
in the deeper water is seen the projecting end of a clam, showing 
his siphon—the breathing-feeding tube—fringed with sensitive 
tentacles. On top of the water whirligig beetles are gyrating in 
dizzy dances, and a group of water striders skate along on the 
surface film , their shadows on the bottom showing almost more 
distinctly than the skinny insects themselves. 

The villains .—Down in the water a diving beetle is swimming 
and small folk scurry out of the way of his hungry jaws. Even 
more dreaded than the beetle itself (Dityscus) is its larva, the 
water tiger, prowling among the-dead leaves and debris of the 
bottom. Another larva, the Dobson, hangs with head down, its 
hairy tail end acting as a float to keep it at the surface while 
resting, but it can leave its pendent lookout and swim with 
rapidity, to pounce on some luckless victim. The Dobson, 
water tiger, nymph of the giant water bug, and the dragon-fly 
larva are the villains in the nature-play. The latter is crawling 
along on the bottom nearly buried in the black mud, looking 
like an animated chunk of mud itself, so well does it match its 
environment. Out of the green mantle of floating duckweed on 
the other side a green frog sticks his head; his throat swells as he 
pipes his love song to his mate. 

But now we must have a nearer acquaintance with these 
many inhabitants. The pond may be made the center of some 
exceedingly attractive nature-study. We will take off shoes and 
stockings, roll up trousers, and wade in, for we want to capture 


ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


3 


some of these animals to take back to our aquaria. Many of 
them will be easily secured from the bank with long-handled nets, 
but the boy at least will enjoy hunting better if he can come to 
close quarters. 

The net. To make the net frame use an old broomstick or a 
three-foot length of bamboo for a handle and a forty-inch length 
of very stiff wire for the hoop. Bend the wire so that the ends 
will cross six inches from their tips and twist these crossed wires 
about each other a couple of times (Fig. i). Bend the ends so 



a b c d 

Fig. i.—M aking the net: a, the net complete; b, the wire frame; c, the frame 
screwed into the handle; d, wired to handle. 

that they will lie on opposite sides of one end of the handle, and 
with fine wire or strong cord bind the net frame securely to the 
handle. The wire frame may be soldered to a brass ferrule made 
to fit a jointed handle. The net is best made of coarse bobinet, 
although cheesecloth or fine-meshed mosquito netting will do. 
It should be about eighteen inches deep and large enough around 
to fit the hoop. Sew it onto the wire frame and then bind a 
strip of cloth over the wire to prevent wear on the net. One or 
two quart fruit jars make good receptacles for the catch. 

The aquarium .—An aquarium (Fig. 2) in which to keep the 
water creatures may be cheaply made as follows: First, decide 




4 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


on the size of the glass to be used. Supposing the bottom glass 
is to be 8 by io inches, the sides 6 by io, and the ends 6 by 8, have 
the tinner make a frame of one-inch angle tin io| by 8j by 
inches, or you may solder together the frame of angle tin your¬ 
self. In an old bowl or on an old piece of glass mix in dry form 
eight ounces of whiting, one ounce of litharge, and one ounce of 
red lead. Then with a putty knife or old kitchen knife stir raw 
linseed oil into this until it becomes the consistency of stiff putty. 
When you can no longer work it with the putty knife sprinkle 



Fig. 2.—The aquarium in the making: at left, method of applying cement to 
edge of glass. 


some of the dry cement powder on your hands and work it by 
hand. As you knead it or squeeze it, the warmth of the hand 
will soften it and more dry cement must be added to make it very 
stiff. This makes a waterproof cement. With a putty knife or 
old kitchen knife apply a ridge of this cement along each edge of 
the bottom glass and press it, cement side down, into place in 
the frame. Scrape off the excess of cement that squeezes out. 
Similarly place sides and ends in position. Roll out short 
“ropes” of the cement and press these into all the angles inside 





ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


5 


the aquarium. Let it stand for a day to dry and it will be ready 
for use, though the cement will not harden for several days. 

Fishing instructions .—A pond or stream that does not dry up 
completely in the summer is best for our purposes and one with 
weedy shores is most productive. Stand on shore or wade in 
and poke the net down on the muddy or weedy bottom; then 
move it along just over the bottom, with the opening of the net 
in the direction of the motion. Give frequent jabs into the mud 
or weeds to stir up the inhabitants. Move the net back over the 
same territory once or twice so that the animals stirred up the 
first time may be caught. After sweeping thus over the floor 
of the pond for several yards, pull in the net and examine the 
haul by dumping the material on a sandy spot on shore or on a 
yard square of thick white cambric. The animals will wriggle 
out as the debris dries. 

The catch .—Captured animals may be put into the quart jars 
which have been half filled with pond water, and they will live 
for many days if some of the green plants found growing under 
water are rooted up and put into each jar. Be careful not to put 
more than five or six of the larger insects into each jar, as they 
soon exhaust the air supply. Many of the minute forms that 
would easily escape detection may be secured by turning the net 
inside out and then sousing it into a jar partly filled with water. 
When this has stood quietly for some time, and the mud has 
settled, the tiny animals will be readily seen. The jars of 
material so collected may be taken home and the contents 
emptied into the aquaria with an added supply of water. Tak.e 
along a jar of water plants from the pond, several of which are 
illustrated here, as many animals cling to them and they are 
needed in the balanced aquarium. 

The balanced aquarium .—In stocking the aquarium put in an 
abundance of green water plants, which may be bought at the 
fish store if not readily collected. Fig. 3 shows some of the 
commoner kinds found in the ponds or streams. Have only a 
few animals in one aquarium, among them two or three water 



n d e 

Courtesy of "Guide to Nature ” 


Fig. 3—Water plants for the aquarium: a , Anacharis; b , Ceratophyllum or 
milfoil; c , caboma or water moss; d, Myriophyllum; e, Utricidaria or bladderwort. 











ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


7 


snails, as they help keep it clean. Success in maintaining an 
aquarium depends on keeping in it enough plants to supply the 
oxygen needed by the animals. Always remove any dead 
animals or plants promptly. The water does not need changing 
if plenty of plant life is present, and, in fact, it is best not to 
change it as long as it is reasonably clear. Any wide-mouthed 
jar, like a battery jar, candy jar, or low fruit jar, will serve in 
place of the aquarium described. 

Snails.—Snails are found both on land and in the water; 
different sorts of course live in different situations. The best 
one to study first, because of its size, is the large edible snail, 
which may be purchased of dealers or fishmongers, but any good- 
sized snail will do. When received, this snail will have the 
opening of its shell closed with a temporary diaphragm which 
it can form as occasion demands. This it does when moisture 
is not abundant. Some of the snails have a special horny plug 
(operculum) attached to the foot which exactly fits the opening 
of the shell. When they withdraw into the shell this closes the 
opening tightly so as to prevent loss of moisture in order that 
the animal may live until the conditions are again favorable for 
it. Put the animals, when received, into a large jar or an old 
aquarium with moist sand or earth on the bottom. Throw in 
also some lettuce or cabbage leaves. Such a terrarium will 
serve well for any of the land snails, while water snails will 
simply be put into water in the aquarium. In a very few hours 
the temporary seal on the shell has been broken and the snail is 
out feeding, carrying his house on his back. 

Crawling .—Observe that the animal crawls on a muscular, 
boat-shaped foot (Fig. 4). In the edible snail this is as large as 
the hand and in some of the great sea snails it is a yard long. 
Most of the internal organs, digestive, respiratory, etc., are up in 
the shell, where they are protected. When the water snail is 
crawling on the glass side of the aquarium, look at the side 
against the glass to see the waves of contraction that drive it on. 
On the underside of the foot the mouth may also be seen as the 


8 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


animal feeds upon the minute animals and plants that grow on 
the surface of the glass. Sometimes the water snails in the 
aquarium will glide down transparent streamers of mucus which 
they secrete and spin through the water from plant to plant or 
from top to bottom. 

Breathing .—Some of the snails breathe by means of gills; 
others, even some of those that live in the water, by means of 
lungs. In the latter, one can see the spiracle, or entrance to the 
lung cavity, opening and closing (Fig. 5). This is situated on 
the upper part of the foot near its juncture with the shell. 
Water snails that have lungs must frequently come to the surface 



Fig. 4. —Polygyra thyroides crawling on the ground 

to breathe, though they can take under with them enough fresh 
air (in their lungs) to last much longer than a boy’s supply would. 

Snail’s eggs .—Many of the water snails will lay their eggs in 
the aquarium. They are minute, as large around as the wire of 
a fine pin, and are laid in masses. Each tiny egg is inclosed in a 
capsule of jelly, so that the whole jelly mass is as large as a big 
pea or a small bean. The mass is attached to the glass of the 
aquarium, to the plants, or to the stones. The eggs are also 
found in the ponds on plants and stones. Even under a low- 
power lens, like a linen tester, the young snails are visible when 
they are developing. The snails, when first they break out of the 
jelly, are very small, not larger than pinheads, but they grow 





ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


9 


with rapidity. Around the margin of the mouth of the shell is a 
fold of the body known as the mantle, which secretes new shell 
and adds it, layer after layer, to the margin. On an old shell, 
from which the organic material has 
partly dissolved, these lines of growth 
may be readily seen. 

Common kinds .—It is interesting 
to make a collection of the common 
snails both of land and water of any 
locality. Label each sort with the 
place where it is found and the date. 

Collect several of each kind, and, if it 
is impossible to name some, one or 
two of each of these sorts may be sent 
to someone in the state (possibly at 
the state university) who can identify 
them. The important thing, how¬ 
ever, is to know the habits and habi¬ 
tats, though it is a satisfaction to 
know the names. There are given a 
number of sketches to show the dis¬ 
tinguishing characters of some of the 
commoner kinds (Figs. 6, 7, and 8). 

Clams.—In nearly every stream 
of any size, in ponds, and in lakes the 
clams are found. One is likely to 
become acquainted with the shells 
first, for they are often cast up on the shore, and the shell is no 
mean wonder. Some are very large and heavy, other sorts are 
small, and many are thin and fragile. Within a generation a 
great many of the streams that are tributary to the Mississippi 
have yielded a supply of these shells to the button factories. 
The clams have been sought also by the pearl hunters, for the 
baroque pearl now so commonly seen comes from the clam, as 
do some of the beautiful regular pearls. The shell has two 











Fig. 6 .—Various species of Polygyra, common land snails, life-size: 
a, Polygyra albolabris , the white-lipped snail (note covered umbilicus); 
b f Polygyra hirsuta y the hairy snail (note notch in lip); c, Polygyra 
multilineatay the many-banded snail; d, Polygyra palliata; e, Polygyra 
pcnnsylvanica; f, Polygyra profunda (note wide open umbilicus); g, 
Polygyra ihyroidcs; Ji, Polygyra tridentata , the three-toothed snail. 







Fig. 7.—Water snails,, showing generic characters: a, Limnaea 
rcflexa; b, Limnaea stagnalis; c, Limnaea ’woodruff; d, Physa gyrina; 
e, Physa helerostropha; f, Ancylus fuscus , side view; g, Ancylus fuscus, 
from above; h, Amnicola cincinnatiensis; i, Amnicola emarginaia; j, 
Valvala tricarinala; k, Planorbis trivolvis, from above; /, Planorbis 
trivolvis, side view; in, Planorbis campanulatus , from below; n, Planorbis 
campanulatus, side view; 0 , Planorbis bicarinatus, from below; p, 
Planorbis bicarinatus, side view; q, Vivipera contectoidcs; r, operculum of 
Vivipera contectoidcs; s, Vivipera sub purpurea; i,Campeloma ponder osum; 
u, Campeloma integrum; v, Campeloma sub solidum; w, Pleurocera elevatum; 
x, Pleurocera subulare; y, Goniobasis livescans; z, Sphaerium transversum 
(a clam) 







Fig. 8 .—Land snails: a, Circinaria concava: b, Helicodiscus parallelus: c, 
Omphalina fuliginosa; d, Polygyra tridentata; e, Zonitoides arboreus: f , Polygyra 
monodon; g, Pyramidula alternata; h, Philomycus caroliniensis (a slug); i, 
Pyramidula solitaria; j, Pyramidula perspectiva; k, Succinea avara; l, Succinea 
ovalis; m, Succinea retusa; n, Cochlicopa lubrica; o, Bifidaria armifera; p, Vertigo 
ovata; the last three much enlarged. 



















ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


*3 


parts, or valves, held together by an elastic hinge, which is so 
adjusted that the valves are ordinarily somewhat spread (Fig. 9). 
They can be closed tightly by powerful muscles, the places for 
the attachment of which can plainly be seen on the inside of the 
shell. The shell is lined by a mantle, the margins of which, lying 
along the margins of the valves, secrete the material of which 
the shell is formed. The lines of growth show plainly on the 



Fig. g— Clam in aquarium, foot protruding; clamshell ahovk 

outside of each valve as they encircle an elevated shoulder, the 
umbone, which in most clams is nearer the hind end of the shell. 
The shell is lined by another secretion of the mantle, the pearl. 
Not infrequently when an irritating particle accidentally gets 
into the clam’s shell between the mantle and the shell it is 
covered over with pearl. Such secretions around some foreign 
object form the pearl. 

A clam’s foot.— Like the snail, the clam thrusts a fleshy foot 
out of the shell (at the front end) by means of which it crawls 




H 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


along the sandy or muddy bottom. Usually, however, it 
remains stationary for days at a time as long as the feeding is 
good. The shell is then two-thirds or more buried in the mud or 
sand, just the hind end sticking up, and between the partly 
opened valves there project two tubes formed of the mantle and 
fringed at the mouths with sensitive tentacles. Into one there 
pours a constant stream of water bearing the small, floating 
animals and plants on which the clam feeds, and out of the other 



Fig. io. —The slug (Philotnicus carolinicnsis ) and its eggs (natural size) 

comes the stream of water bearing refuse. When a clam is 
quickly lifted out of the bottom of stream or pond his protruding 
foot will be seen, but this is promptly withdrawn and the shell 
closes; as this happens, the water is spouted out of the siphon, 
sometimes quite vigorously. 

Siphons .—These can all be readily seen if a clam of moderate 
size is placed in the aquarium. Put three or four inches of sand 
from the bottom of the pond into the aquarium so that he can 
partly bury himself. If some of the water plants, like elodea, 










ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


15 


cabomba, etc., are planted in the mud the clam will be likely to 
live longer. It is wise to place only one clam in an aquarium 
and to have only three or four inches of water above the sand. 
If the clam is simply laid on the bottom it will soon open its 
shell, thrust out its foot-, and proceed to bury its anterior end, 
leaving the posterior end above the surface. Out of this the 
siphons open and soon particles in the water will indicate the 
direction of the flow of water currents bearing food and air. 

F oung clams .—The eggs of the clam are retained within the 
shell until they hatch into the young clams, when they are thrown 
out of a siphon. They are at first tiny bivalve forms, each valve 
being provided with a hook or tooth nearly opposite its fellow 
on the other valve. They can swim by repeatedly clapping the 
valves together and forcibly ejecting the water, each squirt of 
water propelling the tiny fellow a short way. They attach 
themselves by their hooks to the gills, fins, or tails of fish, where 
they remain until they have grown much larger, when they drop 
off and sink to the bottom to live the clam’s usual life. 

Miniatures .-—In the streams and ponds where the larger clams 
are found will be found some small bivalves, living for the most 
part in shallow water. These are usually not the young of the 
larger clams, but adults of a family (Sphaeriidae), individuals of 
which never do grow large (Fig. 7z). Sometimes the full-grown 
forms are not longer than the diameter of a pencil. These 
sphaeriidia will live in the aquaria very well, and even in relatively 
cramped quarters will show all the typical behavior of the clams. 

Land molluscs.—Snails and clams both belong to the great 
group of animals (subkingdom) known as the Mollusca. The 
third major subdivision of the molluscs in addition to the snails 
and the clams includes only salt-water forms—the squids and 
devil fishes or octopi. While the molluscs are primarily water 
animals, many of them have taken to the land, where a number 
(snails and slugs) may be found active in moist situations. The 
damp ground stratum of forests is the place to look for these— 
turn over the logs, break apart decayed stumps, or, where the 


16 OUR LIVING WORLD 

air is moisture-laden, expect them on the low shrubs and ferns. 
There is figured here one of the commonest slugs and a number 
of the land snails (Figs. 8 and 11). The slugs are naked molluscs; 
that is, they have no external shell, and look almost wormlike as 
they crawl along. The tentacles and stalked eyes, however, will 
readily distinguish them. 

Crayfish.—One of the best-known inhabitants of the ponds 
and streams—the best known, at least, to the boys and girls—is 
the crayfish, or crab as he is wrongly called. (True crabs have 
very short tails always turned under, out of sight; they are 
marine.) He will repay careful observation, for he is an exceed¬ 
ingly interesting animal. He will be found under the stones in the 

streams or ponds, hiding 
in old tin cans or other safe 
retreats. When disturbed 
he is likely to assume a de¬ 
fensive attitude, standing 
on all his walking legs and 
raising the great pincers 
that "arm the first pair of 
legs, ready to nip the in¬ 
truder. Perhaps he deems 
discretion the better part 
of valor and beats a hasty retreat—how hasty is realized only 
if one tries to pick him up. The direction of his locomotion is 
also contrary to expectation. Study him in his native home or, 
if time will not permit, gather several in the net and carry them 
back to the aquarium. The animals are transported best in a 
jar with some of the moist water weed, rather than in water. 
They will thrive in an aquarium jar on the bottom of which is 
a layer of wet earth with some wet water weeds in one corner. 
The jar should be covered to prevent evaporation and water 
should be added from time to time to insure abundant moisture. 

His armor .—The crayfish reminds one of a knight-errant, 
going about in his coat of mail seeking adventures. Notice that 



Fig. ii.—T he slug, Agriolimax 



ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


17 


the animal is apparently made up of two main parts—a forward 
portion covered with a single piece of protective armor, the head- 
thorax, and a posterior part, the abdomen, made up of successive 
segments (Fig. 12). There are five pairs of legs, the front pair 
being armed with powerful claws, used for offense and defense, 
while the other four pairs are the walking legs. Not infrequently 
you will find an animal with one great claw gone and a small one 



Fig. 12.—A pupil’s blackboard drawing of a crayfish 


in its place, for in their fights the animals are likely to lose a claw, 
pinched off by the more powerful opponent. It is soon grown 
again, for the lowly animals have wonderful powers of regenerat¬ 
ing lost parts. There are two pairs of feelers, a long pair of 
antennae, and the short antennules. The eyes are mounted on 
movable stalks, a compensation for the immovable head. 

The eggs .—On most abdominal segments there is a pair of 
swimmerets, really legs. The pair on the next to the last 




i8 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


segment is broadened out very much to help form the powerful 
tail. In the spring females are often found carrying clusters of 
eggs attached to the hairs that fringe the forward swimmerets. 
Crayfish may readily be picked up and one can see these egg 
masses by holding the animal with thumb and forefinger placed 
on opposite sides of the head-thorax. When so held their pincers 
cannot reach the fingers; the pincers are not formidable, how¬ 
ever, as they cannot nip hard enough to hurt seriously. Capture 
some crayfish with eggs and take them home to the aquarium, or 
obtain some from fish dealers or supply houses. (See Appendix.) 

Gills .—The swimmerets are in constant motion, drawing a 
current of water through the gill cavities, for the crayfish 
breathes by means of gills. These are located on the sides of 
the body and are covered up by the armor over the head- 
thorax The edges of this carapace are free, however, so that a 
stream of water constantly flows in and out. Look the animal 
“square in the face” as he stands quietly in the aquarium. On 
the underside, just in front of the opening to the gill chamber, 
there may be seen on either side a rapidly moving organ that looks 
like a whirling propeller wheel. This device helps to keep the 
water running through the gill chamber. Finely powdered 
chalk or other light insoluble substance dusted into the water 
near the crayfish will show by its movement the direction of flow 
of this water current to the gills. 

Walking .—The animal walks quite as readily backward or 
sideways as it does forward, reaching out its antennae and finding 
its way as a blind man might with his cane. But this is a slow 
method of locomotion. If poked the animal will suddenly dart 
backward with surprising swiftness, using the tail fin as a paddle, 
which he curves under the body in a succession of quick strokes 
that draw him backward. It is such a peculiar and expressive 
movement that the phrase “to crayfish” has crept into our 
language to signify an undignified and hasty retreat from a 
difficult situation. Certainly the crayfish does not wait on 
ceremony when danger threatens. 


ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


19 


Food. The crayfish feeds on dead animal material, acting 
as a scavenger of streams and ponds. Just a few bits of meat 
may be put into the aquarium for him to eat; he will also accept 
small pieces of angleworm, egg, bread, potato, or aquatic plants. 
These are seized by the claws on the second legs and held up to 
the mouth. Several pairs of appendages manipulate the food 
here and force it in between the powerful horny jaws, which work, 
as do the other mouth parts, from side to side, not up and down. 



Fig. 13.—The clay chimney of a common well-digging crayfish, Cambarus 
diogenes. 

If the crayfish does not eat in the course of a few hours, the bits 
of meat should be removed or they will decompose and thus foul 
the water. 

There is one group of crayfishes that live often at a considerable 
distance from streams and ponds and dig wells for themselves 
so as to reach the necessary water (Fig. 13). These usually 
inhabit swampy ground or else live in situations where there is a 
clay subsoil that holds the water well. The earth is dug out 
with the claws, and as the hole deepens it is pushed to the surface 







20 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


and piled around the opening, forming a chimney rising above the 
level of the earth. The animal is usually found near the top 
of the hole but drops down if danger threatens. They leave 
their burrows, especially at night, to seek food. 

Breeding .—Crayfishes mate in the spring, usually in March. 
The males may be told by the peculiar modification of the first 
and second pairs of swimmerets, which fit together to form a tube. 
A male should be kept in a shallow dish for a couple of days until 
he gets used to it, and then a female of the same size may be put 
in with him. Leave them together for a few days and then put 
the female in an aquarium with shallow water. Put some rocks 
or bits of brick or tile in one corner so that she may crawl in out 
of the bright light. The eggs are usually laid at night in a mass 
of mucus which is held under the abdomen. The female goes 
through strange antics, lying down and rolling over—all a part 
of instinctive behavior to accomplish the fertilization of the eggs 
and their fixation to her swimmerets, each egg being attached by 
its own strong stalk. This process requires a couple of days, then 
the eggs remain so fastened until they hatch. 

The young .—The hatching requires from five to eight weeks, 
according to temperature. In the first week various cleavage 
stages may be seen under even a simple lens; the egg divides and 
subdivides until it is a mass of tiny cells. In the second week the 
beginnings of the embryo may be made out. By the fourth week 
the embryo extends over half the egg. When the larvae actually 
hatch they are brilliantly colored little fellows with conspicuous 
eyes, and are so transparent that the internal organs are readily 
seen and the heart beat may be watched. After hatching, the 
young reattach themselves to the parent. It is interesting to 
watch the behavior of the young when the parent is fed. Later 
they leave the mother to lead their own independent lives. All 
of this may be watched in the home or school aquarium. After 
the eggs are attached, the female may be picked up so that 
the eggs may be examined. One or two of these may be de¬ 
tached and put into a small dish like a watch crystal, so as to 


ANIMALS OF FOND AND STREAM 


21 


examine them more readily under the lens and notice the succes¬ 
sive stages. 

Molting .—Young crayfish are covered, like the adults, with 
a hard external shell, as are the insects and other members of the 
arthropods (see next paragraph). This external shell is really 
the animal’s skeleton, placed on the outside of his body instead 
of inside, as is ours. It does double duty as a protection and for 
the attachment of the muscles of locomotion. As it is evidently 
impossible to grow when incased in armor, the young of such 
animals feed until they literally burst their skins. The crayfish 
skin, or exoskeleton, breaks down the back and the animal crawls 
out of his old shell wearing a thin new covering that will stretch 
for a short time. The youngster takes advantage of the opportu¬ 
nity and grows with great rapidity while he hides in some cranny 
among the rocks, for he is now a dainty morsel. It is at this 
stage that men catch the soft-shell crabs of the seashore; the 
crayfish in similar condition is a grateful addition to the bill of 
fare of crow or turtle or other hungry beasts that feed upon him. 
In a few days the lime salts have deposited in the new and tender 
covering and have hardened it into an effective protection again. 
But this process of change of clothes must be undergone fre¬ 
quently as the young crayfish grows, and the discarded old 
garments are found among the rocks of the pond or stream. 
This is another interesting process to be watched in the aquarium 
as the baby crayfishes grow larger. 

Other crustaceans. —The crayfish is by no means the most 
abundant of our fresh-water crustaceans, although it is the best 
known. There are hordes of smaller ones that inhabit the ponds 
and streams, and of these the shrimp, Palaemoneles (Fig. 14c), 
is the most nearly related to and most like the crayfish. The 
head and thorax are covered by the carapace, which is made of 
chitin, the substance that forms the hard covering of insects like 
the beetle. There is much chitin in the hard shell of the crayfish, 
too, but this is, as noted above, strongly impregnated with lime. 
The large pincers are absent in the shrimp. It is about one and 


22 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


a half inches long in our common sort. Instead of crawling on 
the bottom it may be seen swimming gracefully among the sub¬ 
merged vegetation. It prefers water four or five feet deep, 
where there are abundant water plants growing pretty well up 
to the surface. The shrimps are almost transparent and are 
tinged with green, so that they are nearly invisible in their native 
haunts. They are easily captured with an ordinary dip net, but 
when brought up they spring, by suddenly extending the abdo¬ 
men, and may even jump out of a shallow net. They are very 
beautiful animals but are hard to keep in an ordinary aquarium, 
unless it can be supplied with running water and a moderately 
low temperature can be maintained. They are to be found in 
late spring and early summer in spring-fed ponds and streams. 
They feed on the smaller forms to be described below. 

The water sow hug .—If with the net the fine debris of the pond 
bottom or the decaying leaves lying in the shallow water of pond 
or bayou of the river are swept up, two sorts of crustaceans will 
quite certainly be found. The water sow bug, Asellus 1 (Fig. 14a), 
is a flattened animal looking as if a weight placed upon his back 
had compressed him. He is about half an inch long and a fourth 
as wide. His color is brown to gray. He is segmented; the 
head and thorax are distinct, the latter composed of separate 
rings. The abdomen seems all one piece when seen from above. 
It bears two sensitive organs, like antennae, on the hind end. 

1 It seems too bad that these animals and the ones that follow have not simpler 
names. We must be content with such as they possess. It may be well to give 
here a brief synopsis of some of the more important orders of the crustaceans, not 
with a view to having the child learn such terms, but merely to give the teacher 
some comprehension of the relations of the forms discussed. The class Crustacea 
is divided into two subclasses, the Malacostraca and the Entomostraca. Each of 
these divisions includes several orders, representatives of which are found in fresh 
water as follows: 

Malacostraca: 

Podophthalmata —crayfish, Palaemonetes; Isopoda— Asellus; Amphi- 

poda — Gammarus, Eucrangonyx. 

Entomostraca: 

Branchiopoda — Eubranchipus; Cladocera — Daphnia; Ostracoda— 

Cypris; Copepoda — Diaptomus, Cyclops , Canthocampus. 





Fig. 14.—Some fresh-water crustaceans: a, Asellus, the water sow bug; 
by Gammarus, the bender; c, Pdlaemonetes, the true shrimp; d, Eubranckipus, 
the fairy shrimp; e, Canthocampus; /, Cyclops; g, Cypris , side and top views; 
hy Daphnia , the water flea. 











24 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Several pairs of jointed legs, all alike (hence the name of isopod), 
are attached to the thorax. On the underside of the abdomen 
are the thin gills, like the leaves of a book, which in the water are 
constantly moving so that the water with its contained air will 
circulate freely between them. 

Breeding time .—The female carries her eggs, and later on the 
young, on the underside of the thorax in a brood pouch which 
scrapes the ground, so that she seems to be very fat. Popularly, 
therefore, these animals are known as “sow bugs.” The name 
applies also to some close relatives of Asellus that live under old 
logs, under stones, and in damp cellars. Often when disturbed 
these land forms roll up, curling head and tail together and form¬ 
ing a ball or pill, so that they have also the common name of 
pill bug. Asellus breeds early, as soon as the ice is off the ponds, 
and there are usually several broods each season; thirty to two 
hundred young make up a single brood. If they are to be kept 
in an aquarium, take in some of the dead leaves along with them 
and keep only a shallow layer of water over these in the aquarium, 
or else keep them in quart fruit jars with running water. 

The bender .—The amphipods are flattened from side to side, 
as Fig. 14 b shows. Several closely related genera are common, 
of which Gammarus is usually found in the streams and Eucran- 
gonyx in the lakes and ponds. The animals swim readily and 
can easily be seen swimming among the dead leaves and growing 
plants along the margins of the streams. They often bend the 
body into a bow, and then straighten it again, especially when 
taken out of the water, and the motion is so characteristic that 
the animal is called the “bender.” The creature is whitish, 
changing to a dull brown as it grows older. These animals are 
sensitive to light, being repelled by strong light but attracted 
by dim light, so that they seek the deeper, shadowy portions of 
the ponds and streams by day but swim near the surface at dusk 
or on dull days. They manifest another interesting reaction, a 
preference for situations in which most of the body can be in 
contact with solid substances. They therefore seek cracks and 


ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


25 


crevices when at rest and in the aquarium congregate in the 
corners. 

The fairy shrimp. —By far the largest of the common Ento- 
mostraca is Euhranchipus , the fairy shrimp (Fig. 14^). Although 
commonly called a shrimp, it is not at all closely related to 
Palaemonetes , already studied. It is an inhabitant of the 
temporary ponds that result from melting snows and abundant 
rains. It is a graceful creature, a half-inch long or so when full 
grown, is pale greenish in color, but as its swimming organs are 
fringed with reddish hair the general effect is of a reddish-brown 
animal. These swimming appendages are the most conspicuous 
features, as the animal swims on its back and waves eleven pairs 
of these jointed organs like so many plumes. There are no other 
legs or differentiated appendages except the antennae; the eyes 
are conspicuous, but are not stalked as in the crayfish. The 
entire organism is segmented. It is a relatively short-lived ani¬ 
mal, lasting only four or five weeks. When it first appears in 
the pools it is tiny, but it grows with rapidity, and as it matures 
the eggs are readily seen in the translucent body. These are 
deposited on the bottom of the pond among the debris, where 
they must dry up and freeze during the winter before they will 
hatch when the temporary ponds form again in the spring. 

The head-legs. —The other fresh-water Entomostraca are 
hardly larger than pinheads, while some are merely living dots 
that go swimming about in the water (Fig. 14). The Copepods 
are all plainly segmented. Their antennae are well developed 
and serve as the organs of locomotion, so that it appears as if 
their legs were on their heads; hence the name. There is a 
single eye in the middle of the forehead. In Diaptomus the 
antennae are very long (twenty-three to twenty-five jointed), 
reaching back to the end of the body. Cyclops has antennae 
only about half as long as itself (eight to eighteen segments), 
while Canthocampus has antennae that are only ten segments or 
less long, scarcely longer than the head. Cyclops is perhaps 
commonest. If water plants or the old leaves from the bottom 


26 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


of the pond are brought home in a pint fruit jar and put into the 
aquarium or other vessel with some fresh water, in a short time 
some of these forms are quite sure to appear. Cyclops swims 
with a jerky motion and the females carry two big sacks of eggs, 
one on either side of the abdomen. Diaptomus and Cantho- 
campus females have a single egg sac carried below the abdomen. 

Clamshell crustaceans .—The Ostracods are interesting crus¬ 
taceans whose bodies are inclosed in a double shell that looks 
like a tiny translucent clamshell. When active the antennae 
and swimming feet stick out of this shell, but when at rest even 
these are drawn inside. They swim like little rolling dots of 
animated material and must be put under a magnifying glass to 
be seen at all satisfactorily. The sketch of Cypris (Fig. i 4 g), a 
common sort, gives some idea of the animal’s appearance. The 
Cladocerans are very incompletely covered with a shell and the 
body does not appear segmented, although plainly segmented 
appendages appear. Daphnia is a common representative. It, 
too, swims by the use of the antennae, and, like the Copepod, it 
has a single median eye. 

All of the Entomostraca are best caught by trailing a wide¬ 
mouthed tapering net made of miller’s bolting cloth along at 
or near the surface of the water on dull days or near dusk. At 
frequent intervals turn this inside out and wash off the tip in a 
quart fruit jar half full of pond water. 

Importance .—While of minute size, these crustaceans are 
exceedingly abundant and of large economic importance. Lake 
Michigan water averages about five to the quart, and they may 
be much more abundant during the spring maximum. It has 
been estimated that then a million Cyclops are found in a square 
yard of surface water in a pond. The rate of reproduction is so 
very rapid that a single Cyclops might easily give rise to a billion 
progeny in one year under favorable conditions. Other minute 
animals and plants are equally numerous; thus Thompson speaks 
of finding five million rotifers to the square yard and seven 
hundred million diatoms, minute plants, in a similar volume of 


ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


27 


lake water, while Kofoid found in the water in the main channel 
of the Illinois River at Urbana, in May, a million animals to the 
quart and almost five million organisms of all kinds. It must be 
remembered that while these animals and plants are very 
numerous they are also very small, so that they make up, even 
when most abundant, less than a millionth part by volume of the 
water in which they live. Still the volume of water in lake or 
river is so great that many tons of these minute organisms pass 
downriver daily. This floating population in the water, known 
as the plankton , is the ultimate source of fish food, and the 
Entomostraca form an exceedingly important part of it. Young 
fish feed quite largely on such forms as Cyclops , Daphnia, and 
Cypris. These also are the food of the larger crustaceans, like 
Gammarus and Asellus, which make up a large share of the 
dietary of the larger fish of the small streams and ponds. 

Movements of fish. —When you get a drop of water under the 
microscope with more or less of the ooze from the bottom among 
w r hich these Entomostraca live much of the time, you realize how 
prolific of life nature really is. Such a drop is a veritable ocean, 
often with hundreds or even thousands of tiny organisms living 
their lives in the confines—diatoms, bacteria, protozoa of vari¬ 
ous types. These are the food of the tiny crustaceans above 
described. Like Euhranchipus , most of these crustaceans are 
sensitive to light and their location is determined by its intensity. 
The fish must follow them to feed, and so the migrations of the 
fish in lake and river depend in no small degree on the where¬ 
abouts of this active food supply. 

Dragon flies.—Spring is the best time of the year to study the 
life-history of one of the most interesting of insects, the dragon 
fly (Fig. 15). Surely every child knows these iridescent blue, 
green, or bronzed insects, with rather slender bodies and gauzy 
wings, that hover and dart over the ponds like flashes of jeweled 
light. They are variously called devil’s darning needle, sew flies, 
snake doctors, and dragon flies. Children have a vague horror 
that dragon flies can sew up their mouths and ears, yet they are 


28 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


not only harmless but very beneficial. They are most appro¬ 
priately called mosquito hawks, for they feed upon mosquitoes 
and small flies that they capture upon the wing and eat while 
flying. Lying in the grass, above which a dragon fly was 
hunting, the writer counted thirteen flies captured and eaten in 
sixteen minutes. If such a rate is maintained through a working 
day of even moderate duration, we must gratefully acknowledge 
the dragon fly as an ally in our summer’s comfort. 

Life-history .—The eggs of the dragon fly are laid in the water. 
As the female flies slowly over the pond close to its surface, she 
repeatedly dips the tip of her abdomen below the surface and sets 



Fig. 15.— A dragon fly, a pupil’s drawing 


the eggs free; or, in other species, she alights upon floating weeds 
and fastens the eggs to an object just below the water level. 
When these hatch they produce a band of masked marauders 
that must be bugaboos to all the small pond creatures. By 
dredging in the reeds and grasses or among the dead leaves at 
the margin of the pond, these young of the dragon fly will likely 
be captured. They will He stiffly quiet at first, among the 
debris in the net; but after a moment’s hesitation they try to 
crawl away with a gait that reminds one of a turtle. 

The nymph—The nymph, as the young is termed, is mud- 
colored in a common species. The head is broad and angular, 









ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


29 


with prominent eyes and short feelers; the legs are strong and 
stand out stiffly from the edge of the thorax, and the abdomen is 
broad and flattened. Concealed by its color, the animal lies 
upon the muddy bottom awaiting its prey until some unsuspect¬ 
ing creature comes swimming by. The device with which the 
victim is seized is very interesting. The mouth of the animal, in 
fact most of the lower part of the head, is covered by a pair of 
strong, light, auxiliary jaws, carried on a hinged arm that is 
quickly extensible. It is this arm that shoots out suddenly so 
that the jaws can grasp the prey and return it, as the arm folds 
back in place, to the powerful crushing jaws of the mouth. 

Molt skins .—One can scarcely visit a pond in the latter days 
of spring without finding, hung upon the grass and reeds along 
its banks, the cast-off garments of these dragon-fly nymphs. 
“For all the world’s a stage” and men and women are not the 
only players. This sedgy margin of the pond is the dressing- 
room where our masked marauder of the oozy depths changes his 
dull costume for the resplendent mail of that rover, the dragon 
fly. When the nymph is ready for its final molt it climbs some 
stem, crawls out above the water upon it, and there splits the 
old suit down the back and creeps out of the rent (Fig. 16), a 
limp dragon fly. Sunlight and air speedily harden its armor, its 
gossamer wings expand and stiffen, and it flies away for food. 
This whole process may readily be observed, for it takes but a 
few hours. Put a few of the large nymphs into a two-quart jar 
half filled with pond water; add some water plants, and then put 
in a stick that will reach above the water. The nymphs will 
mount this as they prepare to transform. The dragon-fly eggs 
deposited one summer hatch to nymphs that grow during suc¬ 
cessive molts and finally transform to the adult the following 
spring or still later springs. 

Other water larvae. —The dragon-fly larva is a type of a 
numerous group of insect larvae that are found leading an 
aquatic life (Figs. 17 and 19). The damsel-fly larvae are also 
abundant in the debris at the bottom of ponds. Damsel flies 


3 o OUR LIVING WORLD 

are also found about the ponds and streams and have much the 
same habits as the dragon flies, but they are smaller and weaker 
and prey upon the gnats or midges rather than upon the larger 
flies. At rest, the dragon fly holds its wings out at right angles 
to the body, while the damsel fly folds its wings together parallel 
to the body. The nymphs are slender and have three leaflike 
gills at the end of the abdomen. Their habits are much like 
those of the dragon-fly nymphs. 



Fig. 16.—The molt skin of a dragon-fly nymph, side and back views 


The May fly .—In the same situations will also be found the 
nymphs of the May flies (Fig. 176). The thoracic segments are 
fringed with gills and three long bristles radiate from the end of the 
abdomen. They are easily reared in a quart jar that has some pond 
mud and several sprigs of water plant at the bottom. Feed them 
on Entomostraca or small water insects. In the jar place a stick 
that projects out of the water and cover the jar with mosquito 
net. When the nymphs are mature they crawl up the stick and 
undergo the transformation to the adult fly, a familiar animal 










Fig. 17.—Some aquatic insects and nymphs (after Allee): a, stone-fly nymph; 
b, May-fly nymph; c, whirligig-beetle larva; d, black-fly larva; e, damsel-fly 
nymph; /, water tiger; g, larva of water scavenger; h, the dobson; i, diving 
beetle; j, giant water bug; k, smaller water bug; l, water-scavenger beetle. 


























3 2 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


with gauzy wings, fragile body, and the three long bristles still 
adorning the tail. They often swarm about lamps and electric 
lights on warm spring evenings and may be so numerous as to 
be a pest, occasionally coming in clouds. They are short-lived, 
and the dead bodies accumulate so that the sidewalks and 
porches are buried under drifts of them that must be swept off 
like snow. 

The stone fly .—The stone fly (Fig. 17a) also begins as a com¬ 
mon nymph with bristles at the end of the abdomen. There are 
only two bristles, however, and the gills are in tufts at the base of 
the legs. They refuse stagnant water and seek the under surfaces 
of the rocks that are found in the shallow rapids of the brooks. 

As they are very active and 
hide themselves quickly 
when disturbed, the col¬ 
lector must suddenly pick 
up the stone from the 
water, turn it over and 
brush the nymphs off into 
a pint jar containing some 
water. Keep them in shal¬ 
low water while watching 
them. It is just as well 
not to take them home, for 
The adults will be found on 
the rocks, the tree trunks, and the overhanging leaves. They 
are grayish insects, one-half to two inches long, with large wings 
conspicuously net-veined. The underwings are the larger and 
are much folded when the insect is at rest. 

The caddis fly .—Of all aquatic larvae the most remarkable one 
is that constructor of curious log cabins and stone houses, the 
larva of the caddis fly (Fig. 18). Sweeping with the net in both 
streams and ponds will bring to the surface numerous repre¬ 
sentatives of this group. The house is an open tube, usually 
straight, sometimes curved or even coiled. Some sorts adopt 



Fig. 18.—Larva and larval case of caddis 
fly; below, the adult caddis fly; both are a 
pupil’s drawings. 


they will live only in running water. 







ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


33 


a length of hollow reed for habitation; others fasten bits of stick 
and twig together by means of silk; while still others cement bits 
of stone into very perfect mosaics, and so form a protective 
covering. The larva carries his house about with him and when 
disturbed safely withdraws into it. Hold one of these inhabited 
tubes on your hand for a moment and soon the animal will poke 
his head and legs out, cognizant that his customary watery 
environment is changed. The larva feeds on aquatic plants, 
and as it increases in size it enlarges its dwelling or adopts a new 
one. When ready for its final transformation it retires into its 
tube, builds a door to keep out intruders, and undergoes its last 
molt. It then leaves its house, crawls out of the water on some 
projecting stone or stick, and suddenly unfurling its wings flies 
away. The adult is a mothlike fly; the hairy wings are veined 
with many longitudinal but with few cross-veins, and are held 
close to the body when at rest, making a covering like a high- 
peaked roof. 

The dobson .—Among the rocks in the stream where stone-fly 
and May-fly nymphs are found is another predatory larva that 
feeds on them—the dobson (Fig. 17 h). It is the larva of the 
horned Corydalis and has the distinction of a name all its own, 
largely because it is a fisherman’s favorite for bass bait. It is 
a large larva when full grown, about two inches long. The head 
is provided with conspicuous, strong jaws. Each segment of 
the abdomen bears a pair of long gill-like appendages and tufts 
of smaller gills. The adult is a large insect, four or five inches 
long, with long antennae, bulging eyes, and in the male long, 
sickle-like jaws. The wings are gauzy, like those of a fly, but 
proportionately larger. It is attracted to electric lights at night 
and often captured. 

The water tiger .—Quite as formidable to water creatures as this 
dobson is the larva of the diving beetle known as the water tiger 
(Fig. 17/). It, too, has a big head armed with large jaws, but it 
does not have the gills on the abdomen. It is often captured 
among the dead leaves and aquatic vegetation near shore, for 


34 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


in such aquatic jungles it hunts its prey, and almost every small 
living thing is food for this, the fiercest rover of the weedy shores. 
The adult beetle (Fig. 19a) is oval three-quarters of an inch long, 
and is black with a yellow border. The hind legs are fringed so 
as to make efficient paddles. He hangs head down from the 
surface of the pool, the tip of the abdomen being out of water so 
that he may get air. When he goes under the water, diving to 
hide or to capture food, a silvery bubble of air is seen sticking out 
from under his wing covers as he takes his temporary air supply 
with him. He must frequently come to the surface to renew 
this air supply, like a submarine. 

The water scavenger .—Along with the diving beetle and its 
larva are to be found the water-scavenger beetle and its larva 
(Fig. 17g). Their feeding habits are much the same. The adult 
beetle is also a black beetle like the diving beetle, but has no 
yellow border. It often comes to the surface, but comes head 
up instead of backward. The diving beetle uses its swimming 
legs like oars, striking out at the same time with both, while the 
water scavenger uses its legs alternately. The larva of the water 
scavenger is plumper than the water tiger, but its head is rela¬ 
tively smaller and its legs are much weaker. 

The money hug .—Every frequenter of the ponds and brooks 
comes to know, as one of his first acquaintances, a shining black 
beetle that goes whirling in erratic curves upon the surface of the 
water. He is called the whirligig beetle or money bug (Fig. 17c). 
In New England the belief obtains that if you can catch one in 
your hand you will soon have money in it. The larva of the 
whirligig might be mistaken at first sight for a young dobson, for 
he has quite similar fringed gill plates on the sides of each seg¬ 
ment. These, however, are simple, while the dobson has both 
the long and the short kinds. This larva is much more slender, 
and the head is relatively small and weak. Both larva and adult 
feed upon smaller animals. 

The mosquito.—One need not go to ponds to find the larvae 
of the mosquito (Fig. 19 b), for the rain barrel or any pail of water 





Fig. 19. —Aquatic insects and nymphs (after Allee): a, adult mosquito; 
b, its larva; c, its pupa; d, water skater; e, marsh strider; /, whirligig beetle; 
g, water scorpion; h, water boatman; i, back swimmer. 















OUR LIVING WORLD 


3 6 

that has been standing some time may be swarming with them; 
indeed they may be found in almost any stagnant water. The 
larvae are commonly known as wrigglers and well deserve the 
name, for they swim by a series of contortions, first throwing the 
body into an S-shaped form and then doubling back both ends 
so as to reverse the figure. The larva, when resting, hangs head 
down, suspended from the surface film, with only the tip of its 
breathing tube above the water. After several molts the larva 
changes into a pupa—a comma-shaped form with large head and 
big eyespots. It floats head up, and the respiratory tube now 
projects from the top of the head. Finally the pupa skin splits 
and the adult insect crawls out, often standing on its floating 
pupal skin while its wings expand and harden. 

Mosquito extermination .—In the extermination of the mos¬ 
quito advantage is taken of its need of water for a breeding place 
and the necessity of coming to the surface to breathe both in the 
larval and pupal stages. All receptacles in which standing water 
might accumulate and afford breeding places are either emptied 
or screened. Swamps and ditches are drained where possible, 
and on such as cannot be drained ordinary coal oil or petroleum 
is sprayed. This spreads promptly over the surface, forming a 
thin film of such tenacity that the larvae cannot get the breathing 
tube through it and so promptly smother. It makes an instruct¬ 
ive schoolroom demonstration to put a number of the larvae 
in each of two quart jars half full of water, to one of which is 
added two drops of kerosene. In a very few minutes the larvae 
in the one jar are dead; in the other they are still lively as ever. 
Now if darters, young bass, or minnows are available, put one in 
the jar with the living larvae and see how promptly the latter 
disappear, for they are choice morsels for fish. 

Applying oil .—In applying the kerosene oil to small pools, 
cisterns, or rain barrels, it may be thrown on with a dipper, but 
it must be sprayed on larger ponds or streams. A pint of oil 
will efficiently cover twenty-five square yards of pond surface, 
but since the oil is washed away by waves and driven ashore by 


ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


37 


the wind, it must often be renewed. The life-history of our 
common mosquito, Culex , runs its course from egg to adult in 
about two weeks, so that if one lot of larvae and pupae are killed 
by the oiling, another may be ready to begin hatching two weeks 
later. The spraying must continue, therefore, at intervals of 
two to three weeks during spring and summer to insure against 
the mosquitoes. A single spring application will, however, give 
enormous relief. 

Other fly larvae.—The larvae of the harlequin fly, or Chirono- 
mus, are also conspicuous in temporary as well as in permanent 
ponds. They are blood-red wrigglers usually called bloodworms. 
When full-grown they are perhaps three-quarters of an inch long 
and about as large around as a coarse pin. They live in the 
decomposing leaves and slime at the pond’s bottom and may be 
dredged up with the net. When placed in jars of water they will 
make their crude tubes, if some dead leaves and debris are 
provided, and will readily grow in confinement. They finally 
transform into midges that look much like mosquitoes, and are 
very common in the early spring. 

The black fly .—Any fisherman of the streams feels quite 
certain that the black fly, more pestiferous than the mosquito, 
breeds in countless hordes near the haunts of trout and bass, 
and so he does. On the stones in the rapids where the stone 
fly is found so commonly may often be found also clusters of 
black, squirming, wormlike creatures, attached by one end and 
reaching out into the surrounding water for food with the brushes 
and bristles that are found on the free end. These are the larvae 
(Fig. i yd). They stick to the rock with much tenacity, but if one 
should be washed off by a sudden rush of the water it spins, as it 
goes, a tiny strand of silk, one end of which is still attached to 
the rock. The larva can reel in this silken line and so bring itself 
back to its original location. 

Water bugs.—The water strider (Fig. igd) } or water skater, 
walks on water as if it were solid ground. It is an insect with a. 
long, oval body and long, spider-like legs. The second and third 


38 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


pairs of legs are tipped with hairs that spread the weight of the 
insect over quite an area of surface film, and the reflection of the 
depression caused by the weight of these “feet” makes it appear 
that the insect is carrying a boat on each foot. His first pair of 
legs grasps his prey—flies and other insects—and holds the 
captive while its body is pierced with a sharp sucking-tube and 
the body juices drawn out. The young are like the adults, only 
smaller. To capture these insects the net must be swept rapidly 
along just skimming the surface, and probably several trials 
must be made, for the animal moves with rapidity and dodges 
well. If the net is shallow the skaters can easily jump out. 
They may be kept in the aquarium, which must be covered unless 
deep, and may be fed on flies or other small insects thrown on 
the surface. 

The water scorpion .—The water scorpion (Fig. 19#) is the 
aquatic equivalent of the walking-stick. It is a long, slender 
insect with long legs and long breathing-tubes at the end of 
the abdomen. It is dirty brown in color, and when standing 
on the stem of some aquatic plant or on the bottom among the 
debris it harmonizes so well in shape and color with the objects 
about it that it is well-nigh invisible. These insects live in the 
quieter parts of streams and ponds and may sometimes be taken 
in numbers. One sweep of the net into a cavity under an over¬ 
hanging bank brought up several dozen of these curious animals. 
Ordinarily they take up positions on stems or on the bottom such 
that the breathing-tubes can reach up to the surface of the water. 
While comfortably breathing they keep a sharp lookout for 
passing small animals, which they seize with their front legs and 
pierce with the sucking-tube that is so common in these predatory 
pond bugs. 

The water boatman .—There are two strong swimmers to be 
met with in almost every pond and stream, the water boatman 
and the back swimmer (Figs. 1 gh, i ). As they swim their hind legs 
are held out stiffly from the body like the oars of a boat, and beat 
the water with rapid strokes as they propel the insects. Both 


ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


39 


are brownish animals when seen swimming, but when taken from 
the water the back swimmer turns right side up and shows a 
creamy white back as he tries to jump. The adult of these 
animals is about one-half iiich long; the young are much like 
adults in appearance, only smaller. They may be readily kept in 
the aquarium, which must be covered, else they fly out; and they 
may be fed with flies dropped on the surface. 

The giant water hug .—The giant water bug (Fig. 177) is more 
likely to be met under some electric light on warm May nights 
than he is to be found in the ponds where he lives most of the 
time. Like many of the aquatic insects, the animal leaves its 
pond home at the mating season and flies about to seek its mate. 
These insects are attracted by bright lights and are sometimes 
found near them in numbers. The animal is about two inches 
long and is so large that the characteristics of the group of 
Hemiptera to which it belongs are plainly seen. The hard part 
of the outer wings is separated from the membranous part by a 
zigzag line. The mouth parts are grouped so as to form a 
sucking-tube, by means of which the animal feeds. 

The nymph of the giant water bug is very like the adult but 
smaller, and is found among water weeds and bottom debris 
hunting its food. It attacks other water insects, tadpoles, small 
fish, or almost any small animal. It holds the prey with the 
forward legs, which are provided with hooked claws, and sucks 
the body fluids. The nymph must not therefore be put into the 
aquarium with other animals unless they are to be sacrificed to 
its voracity. There is a smaller relative of this big bug, the 
smaller water bug, which has very similar habits and may be 
encountered in similar situations. 

Breathing in water.—When air-breathing animals like the 
insects “take to the water” they meet quite unaccustomed 
problems, and it is interesting to note in what varied ways they 
have solved the problem of breathing. Insects breathe by means 
of tracheal tubes that carry the air from the many pores or 
spiracles on the surface to every part of the body. A grasshopper 


40 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


cannot be drowned by holding its head under water because he 
breathes through pores all along his thorax and abdomen, and 
not through mouth or nose. Water insects, however, go under 
water and stay under for long periods without drowning because 
they possess devices for carrying air with them. The water 
scorpion has a long air tube at the tip of his abdomen which he 
sticks up to the surface precisely as the deep-sea diver gets his 
air by a tube opening above the surface. The diving beetle, 
water scavenger, back swimmer, and others stick the tip of the 
abdomen above the surface of the water and take in a supply of 
air under the wing covers, or entangle it in the hair of body or 
wings. When they go under the light is reflected from this air, 
making them appear silver-coated. When the supply is 
exhausted they must come to the surface again to renew it. 

Insect gills .—Nymphs and larvae as a rule have met the 
situation by the development of tracheal gills, a kind found 
nowhere else in the animal world. In a tadpole, for instance, the 
gills are full of blood vessels and the supply of oxygen is taken 
up by the blood to be carried to all parts of the body where 
needed. In the tufts of gills on the sides of the abdomen on 
stone-fly or water-scavenger larva the oxygen is taken out of the 
water into tracheal or air tubes. In the damsel fly the gills are 
not tufts or threads, but are plates carried at the end of the 
abdomen. The dragon-fly larva draws the water into the hind 
end of its digestive tract, the walls of which are so full of fine 
tracheal tubes that it serves as a breathing chamber. This 
chamber has muscular walls so that the water can be ejected 
forcibly, driving the animal ahead with a jerk, so it may escape 
its enemies. 

The diving spider .—But most wonderful of all these adapta¬ 
tions of air-breathing animals to the conditions of life in the 
water are those manifested in the diving spider (Fig. 20). There 
are several spiders that run on the surface quite as well as the 
water strider, and so capture their food. This is a distinct 
advantage, for most spiders cannot do this, and when a spider of 


ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


4i 


a certain sort can accomplish the feat it opens up to him and his 
immediate kind an extensive territory for foraging in which there 
is little or no competition. So, too, the insects that have taken 
to the water have comparatively easy living. They have largely 
escaped the enemies of their land-living relatives, and they have 
come to live in a world exploited by relatively few of the insect 
kind. 

This diving spider carries down with it, entangled in the hairs 
of its abdomen, a bountiful supply of air that silvers its surface 
like a large drop of quicksilver. When 
this air is used up, in its chase under 
water for food, it comes to the surface 
for a new supply. Its nest, too, is 
built under water. A be 11 -shaped 
silken tent is spun in the branches of 
some aquatic plant and there the eggs 
are laid. This bell is kept full of air 
brought down in bubbles and released 
under the bell, the mouth of which 
is turned down. As the young hatch 
out they thus have plenty of air to 
breathe, for the supply is kept up by 
frequent journeys to the surface on 
the part of the parent spider until the 
young are old enough to make the 
journey for themselves. This whole 
process may be watched in the aquarium if Dolomedes is kept in 
one that is covered with mosquito net and supplied with plenty 
of flies frequently dropped on the surface. 

The surface film.—We have referred above to the surface 
film of water on which water skaters and water spiders run just 
as an agile skater glides along on rubber ice. We do not ordi¬ 
narily realize that there is any film on the top of a liquid 
that has enough tenacity to act as a support even for these fairy¬ 
footed insects, but it may be easily demonstrated. (1) Hold 



.Fig. 20. —The diving spider, 
Dolomedes sexpunctatus (after 
Shelf ord). 










42 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


a fine needle horizontally between thumb and finger as near 
the surface as possible of a tumbler full of water, and then drop 
it on the water. If it strikes full length on the film, it floats. 
(2) Fill a glass with water and then with a medicine dropper add 
more water. Can it be heaped up ? Notice the shape of the 
surface of the water. (3) Make of fine wire, a cork, and a screw 
a piece of apparatus like Fig. 21. It is called a Mensbriigghe 
float. The circle of wire must be horizontal and must have no 
free sharp ends of wire. The screw must be shoved in or drawn 
out until the large end of the cork is flush with the surface of the 
water when the apparatus floats. With a pencil placed on the 
big end of the cork shove the whole float under water and 

then release it. Why does it 
take the new position ? 

Frogs.—Among the voices of 
early spring none seems more 
welcome than the peep of the 
toad or the croak of the frog. 
Later, when the birds have 
arrived in force and the air is 
a-tremble with their love songs, 
these coarser notes that come 
from the ponds are discordant, but when the snows are scarcely 
melted and the crisp mornings show a rim of ice about the 
roadside puddles, then the frogs’ chorus is pleasing music to our 
expectant ears. 

Eggs .—No more interesting objects can be added to the 
aquarium than the eggs of some of the frogs or toads. With net 
and collecting jar or bucket one may explore the shallow ponds 
for the eggs. The frogs’ eggs are little spheres, a sixteenth of an 
inch or so in diameter, half black, half fight, and each is inclosed 
in a spherule of transparent jelly. The eggs are laid in clusters 
so that the jelly forms a mass from about the size of a hen’s egg 
to that of a quart bowl, and the clusters are usually found in a 
small area, where many frogs have congregated to deposit their 



Fig. 21. —The Mensbriigghe float 








ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


43 


so that one may find a half-bushel of egg masses at a single 
spot. The place chosen for depositing the eggs is one where 
numerous grass stalks or small twigs are so abundant that when 
the egg masses are attached to them they will hold the eggs near 
the surface of the water. The egg masses may often be reached 
with the net from the margin of the pond, though it will at times 
be necessary to employ a raft or wading boots to reach the 
desired spot. 

If the frogs have all ceased laying before the supply of eggs is 
secured, the toad’s eggs may be used equally well. The common 
garden toad, though a landlubber most of the year, takes to the 
water to lay its eggs. These are deposited in jelly ropes instead 
of masses and are found, lodged by the current, upon the grass 
or twigs along the margins of small streams. 

Development. —Whether observing frogs’ eggs or toads’ eggs, 
the stages of development visible to the unaided eye will be 
much the same (Fig. 22). When found in the pond or stream, 
the eggs are floating in the jelly with the black half uppermost. 
You will readily discover one use for this gelatinous envelope 
if you can think why a hotbed is covered with glass. Just as we 
like chickens’ eggs to eat, young fish and birds like frogs’ eggs, 
and the sticky, disagreeable jelly is a protection. The eggs float 
dark side up so as to absorb the sun’s heat, just as one wears a 
black dress in winter because it is warmer than a light one. The 
dark color matches the color of the bottom of the pond where the 
eggs are found and thus keen-eyed birds do not readily see 
them. The light underside renders them invisible to the fish 
living in the pond and looking up through the water at the 
floating eggs. 

When the eggs are found, look over the clusters, taking them 
up in your hand, and select for the aquarium those that show 
equal parts of dark and light, with a single dark line crossing the 
light half. As the eggs are laid early in the morning, it is best 
to go to the pond as early as possible in order to get the eggs 
before they have passed the first stages. A single cluster of the 



Fig. 22.—Development of the frog’s egg: a, the two-celled stage, left-hand egg, side view; 
right, seen from animal pole; b, four-celled; c, eight-celled; d-g, Continued division; A, right-hand, 
view from lower pole; left-hand, side view of same; i, later from same; j, k, l, three views of form¬ 
ing nervous system, side back, and head end; m, embryo well developed. 




ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


45 


frogs’ eggs or a chain of the toads’ eggs may be carried back in 
some water in the quart fruit jar and placed in the aquarium, so 
that the development of the tadpoles may be watched. 

The first stages Each egg has a dark and light hemisphere, 
and the boundary line between these may be considered the egg’s 
equator; then the centers of the dark and light hemispheres 
would be the poles. The first division plane passes through the 
poles. This line of division has already been noted as the dark 
line crossing the light hemisphere (Fig. 22). The two parts 
formed by this first division remain in intimate contact and 
soon divide again in a plane passing through the poles at right 
angles to the first plane. A third plane of division shortly 
passes above the equator and parallel to it, thus dividing the 
egg into eight parts or cells. Thus the division goes on, rapidly 
if the eggs are where it is warm, slowly if they are cool. It will 
be noted, however, that the cells form on the upper or black 
pole much more rapidly than on the lower or light pole, so that 
within a few hours the black part seems to be overgrowing the 
white and almost covers it. 

Long before this occurs the continually dividing cells have 
come to be too small to be seen without a microscope, but we may 
still observe the gross changes. Soon the mass of tiny cells elon¬ 
gates and assumes much the shape of a common football. On 
one side of this is a tiny groove, marked by a dark streak that 
runs from end to end; this is the forming spinal cord. One end 
of the football-shaped mass enlarges and the head roughly 
assumes shape. The little tadpole now begins to wiggle within 
its jelly covering, and before long it wiggles itself free and finds 
that it can swim clumsily. It does not swim away at once, 
however. The underside of the head, where the mouth will in 
time appear, is provided with a sucking-disk by means of which 
the tadpole attaches itself to some twig or stone or to the side of 
the aquarium. Here it hangs for several hours while it grows, 
but when the mouth has developed it swims away and begins to 
feed. 


46 


OUR LIVING WORLD 



Tadpole transformation .—The tadpoles feed on plants found 
growing in the water and on organic refuse. Bits of stick and 
stones covered with green slime may be put into the aquarium as 
food for the growing tadpoles. Place a brick or flat stone in the 
aquarium so that one end of it will be above water and so there 
will be a gentle slope into the water toward the other end. Such 
a surface, on which the tadpoles may lie, seems essential to their 
development in their later stages. Some of the species require 


Fbg. 23.—The bullfrog 

several years to grow into the adult condition; others will begin 
their transformations quite promptly. In these the gills soon 
appear which are later resorbed, as is also the tail. Hind legs 
and forelegs appear and the tadpole has changed into a frog. 
When the tadpole changes to the adult frog it becomes insec¬ 
tivorous. As it will be a difficult task to supply the frogs with 
insects in quantity, it will be well to turn the partly grown frogs 
loose to forage for themselves. 

Rapid multiplication .—How many eggs are there in a single 
bunch or in a single string of toads’ eggs ? Remember that these 




ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


47 


are all the product of one female. If every egg reached the adult 
stage and half the adults were females, how many eggs would be 
laid the next breeding season ? If it took two years for the adult 
frog to develop from the egg, how long would it be before there 
would be a frog for every square inch of land surface on the 
earth ? Here is an opportunity for upper-grade pupils to figure 
out a surprising result. They will probably conclude that it is 
fortunate that eggs and tadpoles are thought good eating by 
many animals. 

Kinds of frogs. —There are a number of frogs found in the 
United States, but the ones having the widest distribution and 



Fig. 24.—The pickerel frog 


those most frequently met with are the bullfrog, the spring frog, 
the green frog, the pickerel frog, the wood frog, and the little 
cricket frog. The bullfrog is by all means the largest one of the 
tribe and often measures a foot from the tip of his snout to the 
end of the outstretched legs (Fig. 23). The large eardrums just 
back of his eyes are also characteristic of this animal, for though 
other frogs have similar eardrums, none are as conspicuous or 
large as those of the bullfrog. The animal gets its name from its 
voice, which sounds like the roar of a maddened bull. 

The spring frog is about three inches in length. The back 
is green, marked with black spots, and the underside is white. 
The green frog is also green, but his belly is yellow instead of 





48 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


white and he is marked with black blotches above. The pickerle 
frog (Fig. 24) is light brown in color and is marked above with 
two rows of dark brown, rather square, blotches, framed with 
lighter brown. The wood frog is brown, but has a broad black 
band running back from the snout along each side of the head 
(Fig. 25). The cricket frog is a tiny frog and is one of the 
conspicuous musicians of early spring, for his cricket-like trill is 
one of the notes that make the pond vibrate with spring music. 
The tree frogs are all small, and all of them have disklike pads 
on the tips of the toes (Fig. 26). Like the wood frogs, they are 
to be found in the water only in the spring, and later they live 

on rushes and in trees, the trunks 
and limbs of which they climb 
readily by means of the adherent 
disks. 

Toads.—The toad is a much 
maligned animal, for he is en¬ 
tirely harmless and does not 
make warts if handled. While 
he is ugly in appearance he is a 
very valuable animal, eating, as do the frogs, multitudes of 
insects. It is well worth while to provide holes for the toads 
in the garden. Scoop out a hollow and partly cover it with a 
board, or provide several such retreats and they are likely to be 
occupied by guardian toads whose nightly hunting expeditions 
will help very much in keeping the garden free from cutworms, 
slugs, and the various insect pests which are very troublesome. 

Frogs and toads make interesting animals to keep for a while 
in the schoolroom. An aquarium or battery jar in the bottom 
of which wet sod or earth may be put is a good temporary 
vivarium. Cover it with a plate of glass to keep in both the 
congenial moisture and the frog. Under such conditions the 
inmate may be watched as he feeds. Drop in some cutworms or 
insects and watch with what celerity they are disposed of. The 
very long tongue is fastened near the front of the mouth, not at 



Fig. 25.—The wood frog 




ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


49 


the back, as ours is. It is folded when stowed away, but can be 
shot out with unerring aim, picking up the desired food merely 
with its sticky end. 

Turtles.—While following the streams or dredging in the 

ponds one will surely become acquainted with the turtles. The 

one most commonly met is the painted pond turtle (Fig. 27) or 

terrapin, the edge of whose shell has a margin of red. In the 

eastern form the plastron, the underpart of the shell, is plain 

yellow; in the western form it has 

a black center. The geographic 

turtle is so named because each 

plate of the shell is marked with 

a network of fine yellow lines, 

suggesting a map. There is also 

a ridge running down the middle 

of the back. It grows to be a 

good-sized turtle, ten or twelve 

inches in length, and feeds largely 

on snails. The spotted pond turtle 

has a black shell with numerous 

round yellow spots upon it. The Fig. 26.—The tree frog, Hyla 

adult is about four inches long. versicolor. The figure is retouched, 

m, ix x 1 -u otherwise the frog blends with bark 

I he common pond turtle has a x j , 

r m . so as to be indistinct, 

shell that is plain brown; in the 

young the shields of the shell are margined with black. The 
front and rear lobes of the plastron are hinged so that the 
animal can withdraw head and legs into the shell and shut 
it up more or less completely. The head of this animal is 
spotted with yellow on a brown background. The animal of 
average size is about four inches long. The musk turtle is 
about the same size; the shell is also lusterless brown and 
the shields are margined with black. The shell is too small 
for the animal, apparently, and will not cover its head and 
legs completely. The head is marked with twb yellow stripes, 
one above and one below the eye on either side. The musk 






50 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


turtle gets its name from the fact that when handled it emits 
a musty odor. 

The snapper .—Like the musk turtle, the snapping turtle 
(Fig. 28) has a shell too small for its body, so that its head sticks 
out at all times and the tail is folded along the edge of the shell 



Fig. 27.—The western painted tortoise, a student’s drawing 


rather than withdrawn into it. There are prominent teeth along 
the back of the shell, and the tail is marked by a number of 
conspicuous projections like the teeth of a saw. The snapper is a 
vicious beast; its jaws are horny and beaked and a good-sized 
specimen can amputate a finger. The shell grows to be a foot 




ANIMALS OF FOND AND STREAM 


SI 


or so in length. Most turtles lay their eggs in the warm sand 
near the margin of a stream or pond and leave them to be hatched 
by the heat of the sun, but the snapper makes a considerable 
journey back into the woods away from the water to deposit its 
eggs and covers them with earth. It may therefore be commonly 
found in the early summer wandering some distance from its 
usual haunts. The snapper lies in the mud at the bottom of the 
stream, its small eyes alert, and when an unwary animal comes 
near, the head on the long neck stretches out so that the horny 
jaws may capture it. Fish, crayfish, frogs, and even the water 



Fig. 28.—The snapping turtle 

birds fall victim to its voracious appetite. The animal may be 
safely picked up by the tail but should be held well away from 
the body, for the long neck has a surprising reach. 

Soft-shelled and box turtles .—The soft-shelled turtle, as the 
name indicates, may be easily known by its leathery shell. 
When mature, it is a good-sized animal with a shell that is 
fourteen inches long. The back is brown, marked in our common 
species with black rings, and the underside is white. The box 
turtle (Fig. 29), like the toads, lives usually on land, but is often 
found in the ponds during the mating season. They are readily 
known by the high shell. They feed largely on vegetable 
material, especially berries, and toward fall become very plump. 






52 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The fore and hind margins of the plastron are hinged in these 
forms, and after the head, legs, and tail are withdrawn into the 
shell these hinged portions close very tightly so that ordinarily 
there is no possible point of attack. Sometimes in the fall they 
become so fat that they cannot shut up completely and they are 
then relatively easy prey to flesh-loving animals with claws and 
sharp teeth. 

Fish.—Occasionally, perhaps quite unintentionally, some of 
the small fish may be swept into the net, and there are some of 
these that live reasonably well in the home aquarium. The chub 



Fig. 29.—The common box turtle 

is a representative of that group of fish commonly known as 
minnows and is likely to be one of the first to be captured. The 
term “minnow ” is ordinarily used to indicate any small fish, 
but it should be used only for those fish that have certain definite 
characteristics. All minnows are without spines in the fins, and 
they have smooth scales, so that if the finger is drawn over the 
body from tail to head the animal does not feel rough. This 
chub, or horned dace as it is sometimes called, will grow to be a 
foot long, but ordinarily it does not have a chance to reach such 
goodly proportions because it is jerked out by an ambitious 
fisherman or swallowed by a bass or pickerel. 



ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


53 

The nesting habits of the chub are interesting and may be 
readily watched. When in a stream whose gravel bottom is 
covered with mud there is seen an elongated spot that is swept 
free of mud, the clean gravel showing plainly, usually a busy chub 
will be seen near at hand. The male sweeps the bottom with 
vigorous brushes of its tail fin, thus preparing a place for the 
female to lay her eggs, and then remains on guard for a little 
while after this has occurred. Sometimes several females lay 
their eggs in the same nest. After the mating ardor has cooled, 



Fig. 30.—The common sunfish 


the male leaves the eggs to take care of themselves. The com¬ 
mon sunfish (Fig. 30) has very similar spawning habits. If a net 
made of fine bobinet or cheesecloth is held below this nest while 
the gravel is stirred with a stick, the light eggs will drift down 
with the current and lodge in the net. Turn the net inside out 
and rinse it in a pint jar of water so that the eggs will be washed 
off. They are small, scarcely as large as the diameter of a pin, and 
are so transparent as to be almost invisible. Let them settle to 
the bottom of the jar and then pour off most of the water, as 
they need abundant oxygen and cannot get it in deep water. 

Rearing fish .—At home keep them in a small quantity of 
water in a shallow tray like a 4 by 5 developing tray. Replenish 


54 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the water as it evaporates. In a few days* time the little embryo 
may be seen upon the surface of each egg, and shortly it will 
become a little wriggling fish that carries around with it the bulk 
of the egg in a yolk sac. It seems to be largely eyes at this stage; 
no fins are apparent except the tail fin that extends well up on 
the body both above and below. As yet the little animal has no 
mouth, as it does not need to eat, but lives on the yolk. When 
most of the yolk has been absorbed the mouth and the side fins 
appear, and it becomes an active fish ready to feed on tiny 
animals. 

Sticklebacks .—Another exceedingly interesting fish found in 
ponds and brooks and often even in roadside ditches is the 
stickleback (Fig. 31), a pugnacious little mite about two inches 



Fig. 31.—The stickleback 


long, whose back fin is armed with several spines. During the 
breeding season the males are combative and try to thrust each 
other with these sharp-pointed spines. Sticklebacks are devoted 
to the care of their nests. With some species the nesting site is a 
bare spot similar to that made by the dace in the bottom of the 
pond or stream, while other species weave a nest somewhat like a 
bird’s nest in the water plants of the pond, which they guard until 
the eggs are hatched and the young are out. It would be quite 
beyond the limits of this chapter to undertake to describe the 
common fish to be encountered in the ponds and streams, and 
the student must be referred to the reprints put out by the 
Biological Survey Department of his own state, or to the books 
listed in the bibliography. 




ANIMALS OF POND AND STREAM 


55 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 

Amphibians of Pennsylvania, H. A. Surface, Economic Zoologist, Penn¬ 
sylvania Department of Agriculture, Harrisburg. 

Arnold, A. F. The Sea Beach at Ebb Tide. New York: Century Co. 
$2.50. 

Baker, F. C. The Mollusca of the Chicago Area, Bulletin of the Chicago 
Academy of Science. Part I, Snails; Part II, Clams. $1.00 each. 
Bamford, M. E. My Land and Water Friends. Lothrop. $1.25. 
Baskett, J. M. Story of the Fishes. New York: D. Appleton & Co. $0.80. 
Dickinson, Mary G. The Frog Book. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 
$4.00. 

Ditmars, R. L. The Reptile Book. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 
$4.00. 

Eggeling and Ehrenberg. The Freshwater Aquarium and Its Inhabitants. 
Henry Holt & Co. $2.00. 

Embody, G. C. The Farm Fishpond. Cornell (Ithaca, N.Y.) Reading 
Course. IV, 313-52. 

Forbes, S. A. Fresh Water Fishes and Their Ecology. Illinois State 
Laboratory of Natural History (Urbana). 

Forbes and Richardson. The Fishes of Illinois. Natural History Survey of 
Illinois (Urbana), Vol. III. 

-Natural History of Useful Aquatic Animals. United States Super¬ 
intendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. $2.10. 

-Bureau of Fisheries Economic Circulars: No. 2, Condition of Mussel 

Fishery of Illinois River; and No. 15, Common and Scientific Names 
of Fresh Water Mussels. 

Furneaux, W. S. Life in Ponds and Streams. New York: Longmans, 
Green & Co. $1.75. 

Goode, G. B. American Fishes. Boston: Estes and Lauriat. $3.50. 

1 The attention of purchasers of books announced in the following bibliog¬ 
raphies is called to the fact that the prices given are subject to change. The 
University Bookstore, 5758 Ellis Ave., Chicago, will be pleased to quote current 
prices and furnish books upon request. 

Many pamphlets and bulletins listed are published by departments of the 
government and by the states. Some of these will be sent on application, some 
must be purchased, but all are relatively inexpensive. A price list of those for 
sale by the government may be had from the Superintendent of Documents, 
Washington, D.C. Your local member of the House of Representatives at Wash¬ 
ington has many of the government publications at his disposal and will send 
them on request, and your local state representative can often send you desired 
state bulletins. 




56 OUR LIVING WORLD 

Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources, Report of 1899, 
The Mollusca of Indiana. 

Jordan and Evermann. American Food and Game Fishes. New York: 
Doubleday, Page & Co. $4.00. 

Holder and Jordan. Fish Stories. New York: Henry Holt & Co. $1.75. 

Kellogg, James L. The Shellfish Industries. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 

$i-75* 

Lautz, David E. The Muskrat. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 396. United 
States Department of Agriculture. 

Miall, L. C. The Natural History of Aquatic Insects. New York: The 
Macmillan Co. $1.75. 

Miller, M. R. Outdoor Work. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. $1.00. 

Needham and Lloyd. Life of Inland Waters. Ithaca, N.Y.: Comstock 
Publishing Co. $3.00. 

Overton, Frank. Frogs and Toads. Science Bulletin, Museum, Brooklyn 
(New York) Institute of Arts and Sciences. 

Unwin, E. E. Pond Problems. Boston: Cambridge University Press. 
$0.50. 

Ward and Whipple. Fresh Water Biology. New York: John Wiley & 
Sons. $6.00. 

Wolf, Hermann T. Goldfish Breeds and Other Aquarium Fish. Philadel¬ 
phia: Innes and Sons. $3.00. 








CHAPTER II 

INSECTS 

Crickets.—Fall is a very good time to begin the study of 
insects as some of the easily obtainable and interesting forms are 
then available. The cricket may be taken as a type. If possible 
have the children go out on a brief field trip to almost any vacant 
lot where this insect will usually be found hiding under the mat 
of grass or weeds, or lurking in the 
damp recesses beneath stones, 
boards, and other debris that lit¬ 
ters the ground. Learn all that is 
possible of its habits and life-history 
in the open and then secure some 
specimens in boxes or loosely corked 
bottles to take back to the school 
for further study. 

The insect cage .—A very serv¬ 
iceable cage (Fig. 32) is made as 
follows: Fill a small box or low 
flowerpot with earth; cut a piece 
of sod to fit the top of it or plant 
in it a few sprays of sweet clover 
or other available weeds; over the 
sod or sprays put a lamp chimney; 
cover the top of the chimney with 
cloth, held with a rubber band or 
piece of string. The cricket will be quite at home in this cage 
and with appropriate care will live for many days. The earth 
should of course be kept moist. 

Feeding the cricket .—Cut a thin wedge-shaped slice of apple 
and put it, edge up, into the cage. The cricket or a locust will 



57 




58 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


probably mount this and proceed to eat. Notice that the 
cricket has several pairs of jaws which move from side to side 
instead of up and down, as ours do (Fig. 33). One pair is very 
horny and serves to crush the food as it is eaten while the others 
hold it. These jaws are provided with little finger-shaped pro¬ 
cesses, jointed palps, that serve the animal as feelers. Crickets 
about the house will sometimes gnaw holes in fabrics, especially 
if they contain vegetable material. Starched curtains, linen, 
carpets, and clothing have been ruined by them. What do you 
find that the crickets are feeding on out of doors ? 



Fig. 33.—The locust, showing mouth parts 


Parts of the cricket—On the head of the cricket notice the 
pair of long feelers or antennae (Fig. 34). By touching them 
one can demonstrate that they are sensitive. Notice, too, that 
the animal, in walking along the ground, explores the area just 
ahead of him with these antennae, much as a blind man might 
feel his way with a cane. There are also some sensitive append¬ 
ages at the hind end of the cricket’s body. Touch one of these 
and see if he is aware of it. Notice next the large eyes, each 
occupying a good share of the side of the head. These eyes are 
compound, that is, they are made up of a large number of tiny 
simple eyes. There is also a little cluster of simple eyes right in 
the middle of the forehead. Such eyes are more plainly seen on 
a grasshopper. Thrust a finger at the cricket without touching 







INSECTS 


59 


him. Does he seem to see well ? The vision of the cricket, like 
that of insects in general, is very imperfect. He probably does 
not see objects clearly, but is merely aware of differences in the 
intensity of the light. If a cricket is standing on the ground and 
you walk around so that the edge of your shadow passes upon 
the cricket he will probably jump. 

Movements .—Watch the cricket as ne walks. How does he 
move his legs ? Do the legs always move in the same order ? 
Look carefully at the cricket’s feet and notice that his foot is 
made up of several joints and bears a pair of terminal claws. 
The hind feet also have some spines. Does he stand on the hind 
feet in the same way as on the others ? How do the hind legs 



differ from the other legs ? How does he hold these legs as he 
stands ready to jump ? How many times its own length can a 
grasshopper jump ? How far could a boy jump if he could leap 
as far in proportion to his length ? 

Cricket music .—The cricket is better known by his music than 
by his appearance. His cheerful chirp on the hearth has come 
to be part of our mental imagery of the humble home. While 
the crickets are confined in their cages they will undoubtedly 
sing; and the pupils may observe how this is done. It will be 
found that the wings are raised from the body and moved back 
and forth in opposite directions. Really these things that look 
like wings are wing covers; the crickets have no wings and do 
not fly. On the upper surface of the lower cover in the male 






6o 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


there is a prominent vein that bears numerous little lidges 
somewhat like the ridges on a file (Fig. 35). On the underside 
of the upper cover at the inner edge there projects a single 
point, a scraper, which rubs across the ridges as the so-called 
wings are moved, and this device produces the chirp. A sound 
of somewhat similar character may be produced by drawing 
a stick rapidly along a picket fence or by moving a bit of 
cardboard, held between finger and thumb, up and down a 
file. Only the male cricket possesses this musical instrument, 
and his insistent chirping is, apparently, a serenade to his 
ladylove. There is an ear, an oval disk, near the base of 



Fig. 35.—The wing and ear of the cricket 


the second joint of the front leg of the cricket; in the grass¬ 
hoppers, close allies, the ear is on the first segment of the 
abdomen. 

Egg-laying .—The adult males and females are readily dis¬ 
tinguished, as the female has a long tube at the end of the abdo¬ 
men, which one might take for a sting if it were not well known 
that the cricket is entirely harmless. This tube is the egg tube 
or ovipositor. The eggs are laid in clusters in the soil, the female 
thrusting this ovipositor down into the earth as far as she can 
reach. The female grasshopper also has an egg-laying device 
at the end of the abdomen (Fig. 36). There are four sharp 
points, each hard and horny at the tip, which when brought close 
together form a single sharp point that can be thrust down into 
the loose earth. The points are then spread apart, enlarging the 


INSECTS 


61 


hole, and then again brought together and thrust deeper. When 
a female is laying her eggs she looks as if her abdomen had been 
cut off just behind her widespread hind legs, but if examined 
closely it will be seen that the abdomen is inserted in the earth. 
If the animal is lifted from the ground so that the abdomen is 
pulled from the excavation the pupil will be surprised to find that 
it is twice its normal length, for the abdomen is built accordion- 
wise, and can, on occasion, be very much elongated. If the 
earth is dug up at the point where the locust is found when 
ovipositing, there will probably be discovered a mass of eggs, 



Fig. 36.—Locust laying eggs, and the egg masses (New Jersey State Board of 
Agriculture Report , 1899). 

like yellowish grains of rice, all glued together in a common 
matrix. These bundles of eggs reihain in the ground over 
winter, and are hatched, by the warm sun of early summer, 
into nymphs that look very much like the adult, except that 
they have disproportionately large heads and are wingless. 

Growth .—These young locusts feed voraciously until each is 
too large for its skin, which then bursts down the back and the 
insect, with a new, thin skin, crawls out. Rapid growth follows 
while the youngster is in this new, soft garment; but as the skin 
promptly hardens with the deposit of chitin, growth stops until 
the next rupture of the hard outer skeleton. This process of 



62 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


periodically shedding the old skin is known as molting and the 
shed skin is called the molt skin. 

Breathing .—Observe a cricket or locust carefully and see how 
the abdomen is made up of a number of rings, each telescoped 
into the one ahead of it. These rings are held together by deli, 
cate membranes, which cannot ordinarily be seen but are evident 
when the abdomen is extended in the egg-laying process. Watch 
the abdomen carefully and it will be observed that it is constantly 
expanding and contracting, bellows-like. In fact, this is the way 
air is drawn into the body. The insects do not breathe through 
their mouths; they do not have any noses; but the air is taken in 
through several little pores that can readily be seen on a locust’s 



Fig. 37.—A short-horn and long-horn grasshopper: the differential at left, 
the common meadow at right; distinguished also as locust and grasshopper (after 
Riley and Lugger). 


abdomen, one on each side of nearly every ring. The insects do 
not have lungs into which the air is taken, but connected with 
each of these breathing pores, or spiracles, is a system of branched 
tubes. These run all through the body so that the air that 
passes in through the spiracles is distributed to every part of 
it. The air as well as the blood circulates in an insect. 

Locusts.—There are several interesting sorts of animals that 
are closely related to the crickets (Fig. 37). The short-horned 
grasshoppers are properly spoken of as locusts; they are usually 
ground color and have antennae that are shorter than the body. 
The real grasshoppers are commonly green in color and have 
antennae that are longer than the body. Grasshoppers will be 
found in moist situations, feeding on succulent plants, while 





INSECTS 


63 


locusts, with their harder jaws, can feed on ordinary vegetation. 
The latter are notoriously voracious eaters. Plagues of locusts 
are familiar to the peoples of all lands, especially to those living 
in the moderately warm climates. Our own country has suffered 
very severely from the depredations of the Rocky Mountain 
locust. This insect originally lived in the highlands of Colorado 



Fig. 38.—A plague of locusts (house in Jerusalem, from National Geographic 
Magazine, 1915). 


and Montana, but in years when conditions were favorable for 
its breeding it multiplied so rapidly that there was not enough 
for it to eat in these regions and so it migrated in hordes over the 
fertile plains, eating up everything that was edible. 

Migration .—When locusts migrate they move in swarms that 
appear like thunderclouds on the horizon. As they approach, the 





64 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


air is full of the whir of their wings; it is said that the sound is like 
the hum of a threshing machine in action. They settle on the 
ground in such numbers that railroad trains have been stopped 
because the rails became so slippery that the wheels would not 
grip them (Fig. 38). When the locusts alight on a field of grain 
the grain is promptly obliterated by the brown cloud, and every 
vestige of it has disappeared when, a little later, they crawl away 
to adjacent fields. Many times our western states have been 
invaded by these locusts, but the consequent losses have never 
been so great as in the years of the great plagues, 1873 and 1876; 
then the losses mounted into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Other Orthoptera. —The katydid (Fig. 39) is another insect 
whose strident notes are a pleasant part of the autumn chorus. 



Fig. 39.— The katydid, a male (after Riley, Report of the State Entomologist , 
Missouri). 

Its green color and the long sword-shaped egg tube of the female 
make it an insect to be remembered when once seen. Probably 
every country lad knows that curious insect known as the walk¬ 
ing stick (Fig. 40). Often in the fall when the nuts are shaken 
from the trees or bushes this insect falls to the ground. The 
slender body and very slender legs look exactly like twigs; in 
fact the thing seems just a little tangled mass of twigs until the 
legs begin to move and the mass crawls off. Then, if exam¬ 
ined with care, one sees the beady eyes and sensitive antennae. 
The animal seems to prefer the beech and maple forests, al¬ 
though it is not uncommon among hickories and oaks. 

Cockroaches .—In the cities one of the best-known insects 
belonging to this group is the cockroach. A wild species is 
commonly found under the bark of old stumps or fallen tree 



INSECTS 


65 


trunks. The studies suggested above for the cricket may be 
made quite as well on the cockroach. The animals may be kept 
in pint fruit jars, the mouths of which are covered with cloth, and 
they may be fed readily on bread or any table scraps. They are 
most comfortable if some bits of moist paper are put into the 
jar so they can hide in the dark crevices. The cockroaches in 
confinement in the jars are pretty certain to lay their eggs in 
time and they are laid in a very interesting way (Fig. 41). The 
female incloses the bunch of eggs in a capsule which is made 
of the same chitinous material that composes her hard body 
covering and that looks like a tiny, rectangular, rather thin 



Fig. 40.—The walking stick, a male (after Lugger, Report of the State Ento¬ 
mologist of the Minnesota Experiment Station ). 


biscuit. Not infrequently the female may be seen with one of 
these capsules protruding from the end of the abdomen as she 
hunts for a good spot in which to lay it. One often finds these 
egg cases abundant under the bark in the out-of-door haunts of 
the animals. 

The extermination of vermin. —-Feeding, as the cockroach 
does, on all sorts of animal and vegetable food, even on filth, and 
moving from one dwelling to another, as it so readily can in the 
thickly populated tenements of the city, it may readily be the 
means of transferring disease germs. We know positively that 
other objectionable household insects, such as fleas, bedbugs, and 
lice, do carry such germs and spread contagion. They should 
therefore be exterminated in dwellings. This is not always easy 




66 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


to accomplish with the preparations that are usually found on 
the market for such purposes, but there is one sure method of 
ridding a house of all its vermin. They may be poisoned by the 
fumes of hydrocyanic acid by a method outlined by government 
experts, which method is described in detail in pamphlets given 
in the list of books at the end of the next chapter. It should be 
undertaken only, however, by a person who is very cautious, as 
the fumes mean almost instant death if inhaled in any quantity. 



Fig. 41.—The cockroach and her egg case (after Herrick) 


Classification.—This entire group of insects, to which the 
crickets, grasshoppers, walking sticks, and cockroaches belong, 
is known as the Orthoptera. It may be well to stop and consider 
the classification of plants and animals briefly, not with a view 
of teaching it to children, but in order to understand enough of it 
to enable the teacher to comprehend the scientific books she 
must often use for reference. The great universe about us is 
divided into the organic world, consisting of living things and 
their products, and the inorganic world, consisting of things like 




INSECTS 


67 


rocks and minerals. In this book we are concerned only with 
living things—the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom. The 
plant kingdom is divided into four great groups called sub¬ 
kingdoms or phyla. There is the phylum of the seed-bearing 
plants (Spermatophytes); that which includes the fernlike plants 
(Pteridophytes); the phylum of the mosslike plants (Bryophytes); 
and the still simpler plants like molds and pond scum (Thallo- 
phytes). 

The student of animal life divides the great animal kingdom 
into a number of phyla. We ourselves belong to the Vertebrate 
phylum, which includes all animals with backbones. All other 
animals are known as Invertebrates. The insects belong to a 
phylum known as the Arthropods, animals that possess jointed 
bodies and jointed legs. All persons are likely acquainted with 
examples of another phylum, the Molluscs, which includes the 
snails, clams, etc. Some of the worms are likely familiar, too; 
they belong to the Annelida. 

The Arthropoda .—The great phylum of the Arthropods is 
subdivided into four groups known as classes. These are, first, 
the Crustacea, a class including the crayfish and its allies; 
second, the Myriopods or thousand legs; third, the Insecta, of 
which there are more different kinds known than of all other 
animals put together; fourth, the Arachnida or spiders. Now 
we are interested in learning the characteristics of some of the 
insect groups, representatives of one of which, the Orthoptera, 
we have studied above. These groups of insects we call orders. 
There are many other orders besides the Orthoptera, for 
example, the butterflies and moths, with their scaly wings, belong 
to the Lepidoptera; the beetles, including the well-known potato 
beetle and the lady beetle, belong to the Coleoptera; the flies 
that have only two wings constitute the Diptera. 

Local distribution.—Until one has paid considerable attention 
to insects he is inclined to think all grasshoppers are pretty much 
alike. But as they are studied marked differences appear and, 
what is more remarkable, it is observed that the different sorts 


68 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


are found in different types of country. Thus some species 
inhabit the reeds and sedges about the pond, others the low-lying, 
damp meadows, others are in the dry pastures, and still different 
kinds are along the margins of the woods; finally, distinct species 
live in the forests (Fig. 42). What is true of the grasshoppers is 
true of other kinds of insects. It makes an interesting study to 




Fig. 42.— Different species of grasshoppers: a, the two-striped grasshopper 
(after Riley); b, the red-legged grasshopper (after Riley), both common on the 
nearly bare ground; c, the short-winged meadow grasshopper (after Beutenmullef), 
occurring in the meadow; d, the common meadow grasshopper (after Lugger), on 
the tall weeds near the shrubbery; e, the sprinkled grasshopper (after Lugger), in 
shrubbery at edge of woods; /, the green-legged locust (after Walsh), in woods only. 


collect the insects from such dissimilar locations and compare the 
collections. Of course some species are found to be very wide- 
ranging, but many are very particular as to the kind of environ¬ 
ment in which they live. 

The moths. One of the interesting objects available for 
nature-study in the fall is the tomato worm (Fig. 43). This is 






INSECTS 


69 


the larva of one of the common moths and will be found about 
full grown when school opens in September. Children will 
willingly look over the tomato vines at home and bring specimens 
of the larva. It is a large, green, naked larva, as long as one’s 
finger or longer. A spray of tomato may be planted in the 
flowerpot of the insect cage and the tomato worm put upon it 
in order that its further life-history may be seen. Several such 
cages can be kept on the window sills or a table in the room. 
Probably all larvae obtained at this time of the year will have 
molted for the last time and they will simply increase in size, 
becoming very fat. Then, some morning when you come to 
school the larva will have disappeared from the insect cage as if 



Fig. 43.—The tomato worm (New Jersey Slate Board of Agriculture Report , 
1899). 

by magic. Since the covering on top of the chimney is still 
intact, and as there are no indications of ways in which it could 
have escaped, you dig down into the soil to see if it is burrowing 
there, though it really is well to leave the soil undisturbed for a 
few days after the larva has disappeared. 

The chrysalis— The larva will be found in the earth where 
it has formed an earthen cell, in which it has completely changed 
its shape (Fig. 44)* This cell may be as large as a hen s egg, but 
as the wall is thick the cavity within is not larger than the last 
joint of your thumb. In this cavity is to be found a brown 
object with segments and a handle like that of a pitcher, which is 
really the pupa or chrysalis. The handle of the pitcher is the 
long sucking-tube of the future moth and is attached at the head 
end; the forming feelers may also be seen at this end, feathery 




70 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


plumes laid back, one on either side; great compound eyes are 
visible and the rudimentary wings, too, all showing that the 
larva is undergoing a complete change within the brown skin, that 
the body elements are reshaping themselves and are assuming 
the contour of the moth. Keep the flowerpot with the larva 
in the moist earth in the cellar or a cool closet during the 
winter; the chrysalis will transform into the moth in the late 




m 


w 





a b c 

Fig. 44.—The tomato-worm moth and its chrysalis: a, the chrysalis of the 
tomato-worm moth, natural size; b , same in clay capsule, two-thirds natural size; 
c, the moth, one-half natural size. 

spring when out-of-door plants are available for food and as 
depositories for the eggs. 

The imago .—The term “imago” is applied to the adult moth 
or butterfly that comes from the chrysalis. In this particular 
case it is one of the group known as hawk moths because of their 
swift flight. They are also sometimes called the humming-bird 
moths, since the animals feed on the nectar of the flowers that 
have deep tubular corollas, like the evening primrose and the 
Jimson weed. The moth hovers in the air over these flowers, 
sticks its long feeding-tube down into the corolla, and pumps 
up the sweet fluid as humming birds do with their long bills 







INSECTS 


71 




(Figs. 45 and 46). They usually fly just about dusk or even later 
in the evening. When the moths hatch, the males and females 
are readily distinguished, for the antennae of 
the males are much larger than those of the 
females. These moths mate after dark and 
the male finds the female largely by scent. 

If a female is secured, put her into a box 
covered with mosquito netting and place 
this on the sill of an open window or out 
of doors. The next morning several males 
will probably be found clinging to the box, 
attracted by the captive female. 

The eggs .—The female lays her eggs, deli¬ 
cate green spheres, on the underside of the 
tomato leaf or the leaf of some other food 
plant, so when the eggs hatch the food is 
right at hand. The little 
larva at first is very tiny, 
but it soon busies itself 
eating and grows into 
what children will call an ugly worm. That 
it is not such is apparent, however, for it has 
the three pairs of jointed legs near the head 
end that are so characteristic of the insects. 
Farther back the green wormlike larva has 
five pairs of fleshy clasping organs and at the 
tail end another pair, all temporary larval 
organs. The larva is about the same shade 
of green as the tomato plant, but bears several 
pairs of light stripes on the sides which run 
diagonally forward from the back. The nine 
pairs of spiracles or breathing pores are very 
conspicuous on the sides of the animal; at the hind end there 
is a single horn. When disturbed, these larvae lift the anterior 
end of the body and draw in the head; if further alarmed they 


Fig. 45.—Head of a 
moth, showing anten¬ 
nae and sucking-tube. 


Fig. 46.—A but¬ 
terfly feeding on 
toadflax blossoms. 



72 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


snap the hard jaws and spit at the intruder, ejecting from the 
digestive tract some of the partially digested food. The moth 
is a good-sized one, triangular in general outline, the length from 
head to tip of wing being about two and one-half inches. The 
wings are marked with grays and browns in wavy lines while the 
underwings, which show only in flight, are rather more brilliant. 

Cecropia .—The tomato-worm moth is one of a number of 
moths whose larvae may be found on various plants during the 
summer and fall. On the willow one is very likely to find the 
larva of the Cecropia moth (Fig. 47). The segments bear several 
knobs each, which change color as the larva molts; the mature 
larva bears blue, yellow, and orange ones. This big larva may 



Fig. 47.—The larva of Cecropia 


be taken into the schoolroom and there allowed to feed on the 
plant on which it was found until it begins to spin its cocoon. 
It does not bury itself, but makes a silken shroud to protect it 
from the inclement winter (Fig. 48). The cocoon if found on the 
upper branches of the tree or shrub is likely to be spindle-shaped, 
measuring about thiee inches in length and one and a fourth in 
diameter. If found on the lower branches near the ground it is 
likely to be a much more baggy mass of silk. The moth is a 
large one, often measuring six or eight inches across the wings. 
Its general color is reddish brown; a crescent-shaped light spot 
occurs on each of the fore and hind wings. There is a round dark 
spot near the outer tip of the fore wings and a band of light color 
parallel to the border of the hind wings. 






INSECTS 


73 


Gathering cocoons .—The fall is the best time to gather the 
cocoons of the various moths. So far as is known none of these 
moths is of any large value. The larvae may be found on various 
food plants, may be kept and fed on these until the cocoons or 



Fig. 48 .—Cecropia cocoons and the moth 


underground chrysalids are formed, and then may be kept in 
some cool place until toward spring, when they will hatch into 
very beautiful moths. The hickory-horned devil (Fig. 49), one of 
the most appallingly ugly of these larvae, makes a very beautiful 
moth. About the time that the cocoons should produce the 







74 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


imagoes dip them occasionally into water to help soften the silk. 
In the spring the cocoons or chrysalids should be kept in a box, 
covered with glass or mosquito net, so that one can see at a glance 
what is happening inside. Several twigs should be put into the 
box that are large enough for the moths to crawl up on, as they 
spread the wings, for when moths or butterflies first emerge from 
the chrysalis they are very soft and moist and the wings hang 
as thick pads on the back; the animal must mount some 



Fig. 49— The hickory-horned devil, larva of the royal walnut moth {Cither onia 
regalis ), two-thirds natural size (after Packard). 

convenient object while air is pumped into the air tubes of the 
wings until they reach the full size (Fig. 50). If the insect has 
no chance to let the wings hang down during this process they 
are badly deformed and shrunken. 

Parasites .—Anyone who undertakes to obtain the adult 
moths by collecting the larvae or by gathering the cocoons will 
meet with more or less discouragement from the fact that the 
cocoons fail to hatch or the larvae refuse to pupate. Investiga¬ 
tion of these unhatched cocoons shows that the internal organs 
of the animal have been more or less completely eaten. Not 




INSECTS 


IS 


infrequently the fat larva, apparently just ready to spin, gives 
evidence, by its inactivity, that something is wrong. Shortly 
after this a whole crop of tiny cocoons may be found attached to 
its back and sides (Fig. 51). These juicy larvae are such 



Fig. $o—P olyphemus stretching its wings; moth and cocoon on willow twigs 

tempting food that certain parasitic insects deposit their eggs 
just under the skin. These little eggs then hatch into tiny white 
grubs that feed on the fat masses and internal organs of the larva 
and then bore their way to its surface and spin their cocoons. 
This is a sufficient cause for the evident illness of the larva. 
Some of the parasites transform into adults without spinning 







76 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


cocoons. In such cases we find the pupa of the moth an empty 
skin perforated with several holes out of which the parasites have 
flown. Such parasitized cocoons can be told, when collecting 
them, by their light weight and the way they rattle when shaken, 
like a pea in a dry pod. These parasitic insects are to be con¬ 
sidered as among our good friends, for if all the eggs laid by one 



Fig. 51.—Cocoons of parasite on larva 


of these moths should hatch and each tiny larva should grow 
into a full-fledged adult many of our crops and our shade trees 
would undoubtedly suffer, since the larva eats many times its 
weight of food in the course of a day. One tomato worm in its 
development will strip a good-sized branch of the plant. It is an 
interesting school exercise to weigh several larvae at the beginning 
of the day, on a pair of letter scales, to weigh all the food given 





INSECTS 


77 



each during the day, and to weigh the larvae again at the close 
of the day to see how much has been eaten and the gain in weight 
of each larva, or if all have been weighed together, as is best 
with the very little ones, the average gain in weight. Keep such 
a record daily for a larva or for several from the time they hatch 
from the egg until they are full-grown. 


Fig. 52.—Silkworms spinning and some of the finished cocoons 

Silkworms .—The silkworm moth is an excellent one for the 
children to rear in the schoolroom because it has the added 
interest of producing the material for some of our clothing. Eggs 
may be obtained from silk factories, if such are located in the 
neighborhood, or may be ordered from dealers like those listed 
in the Appendix. They are simply kept in the box in which they 
were shipped until they hatch into the tiny “worms,” barely 





73 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


visible. Provide the larvae with mulberry leaves, fresh daily, 
and they will grow with surprising speed. The several molts are 
easily observed. The spinning of the cocoon is always a source 
of wonder (Fig. 52). When males and females are left together 
fertile eggs will be laid and the whole process can be started over 
again. 

Injurious moths.—One of the commonest moths, practically 
all stages in the life-history of which can be collected readily by 



Fig. 53.—Female tussock moth with her cocoon and the egg mass upon it; 
about natural size. 

the children, is the tussock moth, which is exceedingly injurious 
to shade trees. In the fall the cocoons are found in the crevices 
of the bark, on the underside of fence rails, and on the joists of 
picket fences, as well as in other sheltered places near the trees. 
The mating of this moth occurs in the fall, and the eggs are laid 
then as well as in the summer. The female is a curiously degen¬ 
erate animal that does not have any wings, and so looks like a fat 
white bug (Fig. 53). When she hatches out of her cocoon she 
simply stands upon its exterior and there deposits her eggs. 
These are tiny white spheres, and several dozen of them are laid 





INSECTS 


79 


at once and then covered with a frothy white substance reminding 
one somewhat of cake frosting. The life of this female is very 
uneventful; she cannot fly to seek food, so when the eggs are laid 
she soon dies if she is not gobbled up by some hungry bird. The 
male (Fig. 54) is winged, triangular in outline as it rests upon the 
tree bark, which it very much resembles in color. The front 
legs are held out stiffly in front of the animal and are fuzzy with 
tufts of hair. 

The tussock larva .—The fall eggs carry over the winter and 
hatch the following spring. The larva is at first tiny and incon¬ 
spicuous as it climbs the tree to feed on the leaves. It forces 
itself upon our attention when it is fully 
grown and comes crawling down the tree 
to seek a sheltered spot in which to spin 
the cocoon. It is now an inch or more in 
length, covered with short hairs, with a 
sprinkling of longer ones, and with some 
conspicuous tufts of hair. There is a pair 
of these long black tufts on the segment 
just back of the head and one tuft at the 
posterior end of the body. Four pairs of 
brushes of yellowish-white hairs are found 
on segments 4 to 7. The head of the 
animal is sealing-wax red, and the body is yellow striped with 
black. If these larvae are captured as they are crawling about, 
seeking some place in which to spin, and are put into a box or 
into the insect cage, they will demonstrate their method of 
spinning the cocoon. The outside of the cocoon must be spun 
first, of course, and as the process continues one can watch the 
activities of the larva through the gauzy web of silk as it adds 
strand after strand until finally the cocoon becomes thick enough 
to hide it. 

Killing tussocks .—When once the children know the life- 
history of this animal and something of its destructiveness, they 
will help very materially in collecting and destroying its cocoons 



Fig. 54.—Male tus¬ 
sock moth (New Jersey 
State Board of Agricul¬ 
ture Report, 1899). 




8o 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


and egg masses. One school, located in a district of Chicago 
where the shade trees were about the only available nature-study 
material, collected and destroyed some thirteen thousand of the 
cocoons and egg masses of this insect one fall. The cocoons and 
egg masses are promptly killed if daubed with creosote. Often 
they are high up in the tree where it is difficult to reach them. 
Tie a sponge on the end of a bamboo pole. Wet the sponge with 
creosote to which some turpentine and a little tar have been 
added; with this dark liquid it is easy to see which of the egg 
masses and cocoons have been treated. 

Other shade-tree enemies .—The tussock moth, while injurious 
to the trees, has not been our worst shade-tree pest. The brown- 



Fig. 55.—Brown-tailed and gypsy moths (the former from Maine Experiment 
Station Bulletin No. 108; the latter from New Hampshire Experiment Station 
Bulletin No. 128). 


tailed and gypsy moths (Fig. 55) are the two that have given 
most trouble in this country. Both of these were introduced into 
Massachusetts on imported nursery stock, the former in 1890, 
the latter in 1868, though it was not until about 1890 that the 
latter came to be recognized as a serious pest. In the ten years 
from 1890 to 1900, Massachusetts alone spent nearly one million 
dollars in fighting the gypsy moth; and in the next decade the 
United States government and the New England states spent 
rather more than two million dollars in fighting these two moths 
whose larvae work such injury. The gypsy moth is a dingy 
white moth, streaked and blotched with black. The wing spread 







INSECTS 


81 


is two and one-half inches. The female does not fly but crawls. 
The brown-tailed moth is snow white, with a thick tuft of golden 
brown hair at the end of the abdomen. The wing spread is 
one and one-half inches. The moth is a swift flier by night and 
is attracted by lights. The gypsy-moth caterpillar is sooty in 
general color, and has five pairs of blue spots followed by six 
pairs of red spots along the back. The brown-tailed caterpillar 
is tawny yellow or orange in color, with a row of conspicuous 
white spots on each side of the body. The brown-tailed moth 
lays its eggs in a silken web on the tips of the twigs. These 
hatch in the fall and the web is found to contain young cater¬ 
pillars at any time during the winter. The gypsy moth lays 
its eggs on the outside of the cocoon, which seems made of yellow 
or creamy silk, and is found on the bark of the trees. 

The migration of gypsy moths .—While the depredations of 
these moths are still confined to the eastern states, yet the 
migration is steadily progressing westward. When the larvae 
are ready to spin the cocoons in the fall or to form the webs they 
come down from the trees by means of a silken thread. They 
are likely then to drop upon passing teams or automobiles and 
may be carried in this way for some distance. If we can acquaint 
the growing generation of children with the characteristics of the 
animal and the need of prompt extermination, it is possible that 
the early invaders of our western states will be recognized and 
killed before they have a chance to start such large centers of 
propagation as have been such an expense to the eastern states. 

Fighting insects with insects—The United States Department 
of Agriculture has imported from Europe, the native land of 
both these troublesome immigrants, some of the insects that are 
their enemies, bugs that feed upon the larvae as well as parasitic 
insects that deposit their eggs on the pupae (Fig. 56). These 
have been freed in the infested regions, and it is hoped that the 
ravages of these predatory insects on the moths may check their 
rapid propagation and reduce the danger to a minimum. The 
usual method of fighting these moths has been to destroy the egg 


82 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


masses, to clean up the debris where the eggs and larvae are 
likely to find shelter, and to spray the trees. Fighting insect 
with insect has had some notable successes; witness the control 
of the Orange scale by the lady beetle imported from Asia for 
the purpose. 

The apple worm .—A very widespread moth whose larvae 
are known as apple worms is the codling moth (Fig. 57). An 
examination of the apple trees in the orchard will likely disclose, 
tucked away in the crevices of the bark, numerous silky cocoons 

about as large as a finger 
nail. In the shelter of these 
the caterpillars pass the 
winter, but fortunately 
only a small percentage of 
them survive; the great 
majority, probably fully.60 
per cent, are discovered 
and eaten by such birds as 
the woodpeckers and nut¬ 
hatches. In May or early 
June the larva transforms 
to the pupa; and in the 
latter part of June or early 
July, earlier farther south, 
the moths emerge, the exact date depending somewhat on 
weather conditions. After mating the female deposits her eggs 
on the leaves or sometimes on the bark of the apple trees. The 
eggs hatch about four weeks after the apple blossoms fall, and 
after feeding for a time on the leaf the larvae crawl into the calyx 
end of the young apples. After lunching here they proceed to 
bore into the core of the apples so as to get at the seeds, their 
favorite food. When full-grown, each apple worm is about three- 
fourths of an inch long. They bore their way out of the sides 
of the apples, and, crawling into sheltered spots on the bark of 
the tree or the sides of the apple barrel or bin, they form the 


J 

. \. 

l If / 

..JfsJ i 


m 

■ \ y 

. \ 

j§L v, \ . 

ii 

\ 

:;v7 1 






a b 


Fig. 56.— Insects that prey upon the 
brown-tailed and gypsy moths: a , a ground 
beetle, Calosoma sycophanta , eating a gypsy 
larva; b. a fly, Compsilora concinnata, whose 
larvae feed on the caterpillar of the moth 
(United States Department of Agriculture). 





jr IG ^—The apple worm: a, apple containing larva; b, larva, enlarged; 
c, codling moth, enlarged; d, trees should be sprayed when fruit is in this condition; 
e, young apple, showing wormy character. 






8 4 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


cocoons. If wormy apples are put into a box covered with 
mosquito net and a bundle of twigs is laid in the box the larvae 
will spin their cocoons among the twigs. 

Spraying— As a result of the attacks of the apple worms 
many of the wormy apples fall from the trees and litter the 
ground. When the apple worms come out of these windfalls 
they crawl to a nearby tree trunk and there spin the cocoons. 
Frequently, therefore, especially in neglected orchards, the basal 
part of the tree trunk will be found loaded with the cocoons. It 



Fig. 58.—Spraying apple trees 


is worth while to go over the orchard in the fall and pick these 
off, so as to destroy them. The most effective means of control 
is the spraying of the trees (Fig. 58). A third of a pound of Paris 
green to a barrel of water, put on at the same time that the 
Bordeaux mixture is applied to control injurious fungi, makes a 
spray of the proper strength. Arsenate of lead, in the proportion 
of three pounds to the barrel, may also be used. The best time 
to spray, if the trees are to be sprayed only once, is just after 
the blossoms fall; the second spraying may be given about two 
weeks later. With a single spraying about 80 per cent of the 




INSECTS 85 

worminess is avoided, and where two sprays are used, about 
90 per cent. 

The spraying should be done on the few trees that are grown 
in the back yard quite as carefully as on the orchard trees. 
Since it is difficult to get at tall trees with a hand spray, it is well 
to keep the back-yard trees trimmed so that the head is low. 
Dwarf trees are valuable on this account. The spray can be 
applied with an ordinary hand pump, an ounce of the arsenate 
of lead to a gallon of water, or one-sixth as much Paris green 
being used. The Bordeaux mixture may be bought ready-made 



Fig. 59. —The clothes moth (after Riley) 


when it is to be used in small quantities and applied as directed. 
The directions for making it is given in the chapter on the 
“Spore-Bearers.” 

The clothes moth .—Another very common moth whose life- 
history may be studied by the children is the clothes moth 
(Fig. 59), a little pest whose larvae riddle our woolens. This 
moth is not as large as a finger nail, is brown in color, and has 
long, narrow wings that are fringed with hair. There is a close 
relative of the clothes moth with much the same characteristics, 
but it is larger, measuring three-fourths of an inch across the 
wings. This is the tapestry moth and is likely to damage 
heavier fabrics, such as felt, furs, and the upholstering of 




86 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


carriages. The life-history of the clothes moth may readily be 
watched if some of the larvae are kept in woolen goods in a bottle, 
the mouth of which is covered with mosquito bar of wire. 
Though the moth itself is not harmful it produces the larvae that 
do the damage, so it is wise to kill the moth whenever it is seen 
about the house. Capture several moths and put them in the 
bottle with the wool; the eggs will soon be deposited and, in due 
time, hatch into the larvae. The first thing that the tiny larva 
does is to gather bits of wool thread and so form a protective tube, 
in which it lives. The inside of this tube is lined with silk that 
it spins, and having once lined its nest the larva never leaves 
its snug home. As it grows the tube must be made larger, and 
this is accomplished in an ingenious way. The larva cuts two 
gashes in one end of the tube, making the cuts from the inside 
so as not to expose itself, and sets a triangular piece of new 
material into each cut. The larva then turns around inside of 
the tube and in a similar way enlarges the opposite end. The 
tube is lengthened by additions to the ends. If, while the larva 
is growing, it is provided, in its bottle home, with wool fabrics 
in different colors, first red, then white, then blue, and others in 
succession, the tube that it builds will be a veritable crazy quilt 
and will plainly show the method of building, as outlined above. 
When the larva is full-grown it pupates within the tube and after 
a few weeks the adult moth hatches. 

Infested clothing should be hung out of doors and beaten so 
as to get rid of the moths and their larvae. When freed from 
these it may be rolled up in strong paper and put away. The 
moth bags and mothproof chests do not kill the larvae, so that 
if there are any eggs on the garments when they are put away the 
clothing will be riddled by the growing larvae. It is well, there¬ 
fore, to give the garments a second beating before they are 
permanently put away. 

Butterflies.—Many of the butterflies are more easily obtained 
than the moths and their life-histories are equally instructive. 
Moths and butterflies are usually readily distinguished, for the 


INSECTS 


87 

former have feathery antennae, the latter antennae that are 
knobbed or hooked at the end and are not feathery (Figs. 46 and 
50). Presumably every child knows the monarch butterfly, 
whose larvae, striped black and yellow, are so abundant upon 
the milkweed in late spring and early summer. The larva 
hatches from a dainty green jewel, an egg that is laid on the 
underside of the milkweed leaf. The butterfly thus seems a good 
botanist, recognizing the young milkweed among the numerous 
plants of the field, but this apparent intelligence is simply 
instinct; it is certain that the adult butterfly is not at all 
conscious of having found the appropriate food for its larva, but 
her keen senses are best satisfied with the milkweed plant, which 
she seeks somewhat as an old hen hunts out a comfortable spot 
in the haymow to lay her eggs. Even so, the instinct is not 
unerringly accurate, for the monarch not infrequently deposits 
her eggs on other plants, in which case the larvae may readily 
starve to death before they reach an appropriate food supply. 

The monarch larva .—The newly hatched larva is a tiny worm¬ 
like creature, but it grows rapidly to maturity, and is then about 
two inches long. After having fed until it is ready to pupate it 
seeks some sheltered spot, spins a small patch of silk, to which 
the clasping organs at the abdominal end are attached, and then 
hangs head down with its body bent into a hook. Gradually it 
transforms into an ovoid green pupa, ornamented with gilt spots 
(Fig. 60). In the fall these pupae are found on the underside 
of fence rails, hanging under the eaves of buildings, and in other 
sheltered spots, but never very far from the patches of milkweed 
on which the larvae feed. If some of the larvae are placed in 
the insect cage with a spray of milkweed they will readily pass 
through their transformations under observation. In the cage 
the larva almost always hangs itself up, for its change, from the 
cloth that covers the top. In the summer time only a few weeks 
elapse from the time of pupation to the emergence of the adult 
insect. Some morning the pupal skin in the insect cage will be 
found empty, while clinging to the cloth beside it is the perfect 


88 


OUR LIVING WORLD 



butterfly. The insect has a spread of wing of about three and a 
half inches. The wings are reddish brown, with veins marked 
with black, and around the margin is a series of whitish blotches. 
The male is readily distinguished by its scent sac, seen as a black 
spot near one of the veins of the hind wing. 

Feeding the monarch .—Like most moths, the butterflies feed 
by means of a long tube, which is usually kept coiled like a watch- 
spring between the palps on the underside of the head. With a 


Fig. 6o. —Life-history of the monarch butterfly (L. W. Brownell in Guide to 

Nature). 

pin you can pick it out and uncoil it; and if this is done carefully 
even the living butterfly will make no objections to the demon¬ 
stration. Butterflies will readily feed out of the hand. Pour 
a drop or two of honey or of a thick solution of sugar in water 
into the palm and then take the butterfly gently between the 
thumb and finger of the other hand and stick the head far enough 
into the drop for the butterfly to get a taste. Ordinarily the 
insect will then unroll his long proboscis, stick it into the drop, 
and suck up the sweet liquid. It is unnecessary to hold him 





INSECTS 89 

longer, for he will be sufficiently engrossed in his feeding to remain 
on the hand for some time. 

The viceroy mimic .—Another butterfly that looks very much 
like the monarch is the viceroy (Fig. 61). He is somewhat 
smaller than the monarch, but has the same color and the same 
dark lines along the veins; in addition there is a dark line running 
diagonally across each hind wing. This is said to be a case 
of mimicry. The milkweed butterfly is one that birds do not 
ordinarily eat, as both it and its larvae are apparently distasteful. 
Pupils might test this by throwing some of the larvae into the 



Fig. 61.—The viceroy butterfly 


chicken coop to see if the chickens will eat them, or, better still, 
by watching the wild birds to see if they ever feed upon them. 
Some scientists have been so curious as to personally try the 
taste of the monarch butterfly, and they say it is exceedingly 
disagreeable. This fact is not adequate evidence, however, for 
the tastes of the birds that feed on insects may not be the same 
as our own. It is true that, in experiments made by naturalists, 
some of these gaudily colored butterflies and larvae were refused 
by the birds. I have never seen a bird eat a milkweed butterfly; 
I have seen birds chase and capture for food the black and white 
Liminetis, a very close relative of the viceroy butterfly. The 
theory is that this viceroy and similar mimics have gained 






90 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


protection by closely copying the gorgeous monarch or other 
conspicuous species that are disagreeable. By what process this 
resemblance has developed we are none too sure. Undoubtedly 
it was quite an unconscious process and the viceroy is unaware 
of its similarity to the monarch. It is not true that all the 
brilliantly colored butterflies are inedible, and it is probably not 
true that all cases of mimicry are protective. Each case must 
be established upon evidence. The children in any school can 
help to obtain such evidence by keeping record of the instances 
of birds eating the conspicuous butterflies and larvae; scientific 
journals would willingly publish such data. 

Mourning cloak and fritillary .—The first butterfly to appear 
in the spring is the mourning cloak, a chocolate-colored butterfly 
of fair size, measuring two and one-half to three inches across the 
wings. The wings are bordered with a band of yellow, close to 
which there lies a series of blue dots. Its larva is common on the 
willow. 

There are several species of good-sized brown butterflies, the 
undersides of whose wings are marked with silver spots; these 
are the fritillaries (Fig. 62). As a rule the larvae of the frit- 
illaries feed on violets, and consequently they are likely to be 
found along the margins of the woods and in the fields where the 
violet plants abound. Rather the handsomest of these has hind 
wings that are very dark, almost purple; and he is known as the 
royal fritillary. 

The. cabbage butterfly .—The garden, where plants of the cab¬ 
bage family are growing, is a good place to look for the larvae of 
the common cabbage butterfly. The generic name of this 
butterfly is Pieris and there are several species. All are small 
butterflies with an expanse of wing of from one to two inches. 
The wings are more or less spotted with black and lightly washed 
with yellow in some forms. There is quite a difference in the 
number and arrangement of the spots in the males and females. 
One seldom goes through a cabbage patch without seeing some 
of these insects hovering over the plants. Sometimes, in truck- 


INSECTS 


9 1 


garden communities, they are so abundant that the clouds of 
fluttering forms over the fields look like a snowstorm. The eggs, 
beautiful little green football-shaped objects, with delicate 
lacelike tracery over the surface, are laid on the cabbage plant. 
The larva is what the children will call a green worm. The term 
“worm” is inappropriate, since worms do not have the jointed 
legs as these creatures do. As a rule the entire life-history of the 
butterfly may be observed here in the cabbage patch. The 
pupae will be found hanging on the underside of the leaf or on 
weed stalks, fence posts, or other convenient objects. The larvae 
are difficult to see because they 
are so nearly the color of the 
cabbage plant. 

Protective color .—It is sup¬ 
posed that this sort of general 
harmony between the color of 
the animal and its usual envi¬ 
ronment protects it, and in all 
probability this is true. The ' “ _ A fritiUary butterfly> Argy _ 

children might try the expen- niscyMgm 
ment of putting some of these 

cabbage-butterfly larvae on objects that are not green to see if 
such will disappear more quickly than an equal number left on 
the cabbage leaves. An Italian naturalist tied some green man¬ 
tis, insects with twiglike legs and leaflike wings, to green plants 
by means of tethers of fine silk, and an equal number on the bark 
of trees where they were not in harmony with the color. Those 
on the green herbage were all alive after seventeen days, while of 
those tied to the brown background thirty-five out of forty-five 
had disappeared. Such general agreement with the coloration of 
the environment is known as protective coloration. 

Warning color— The adult butterfly, like the monarch 
described above, is often a very conspicuous object in the land¬ 
scape. It has been suggested that when an animal, like a skunk 
or hornet or distasteful butterfly, is well able to take care of itself 





92 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


it is to its advantage to have brilliant coloring, for birds and other 
predatory animals associate the conspicuous markings with the 
disagreeable consequences that follow the attack on such an 
animal and promptly learn to leave it alone. The experiment 
necessary to find out that they are disagreeable may cost the 
lives of one or two of the warningly colored forms, but it is better 
that a few should die than that the whole species should suffer 
extermination. 

The sulphurs .—There are some bright yellow to orange but¬ 
terflies that rear their young also in the cabbage patch. These 
belong to the genus Colias and are commonly known as sulphurs. 

There are several species of 
this genus, but all have the 
wings more or less marked 
with black. There is one in 
which the black is so arranged 
that its outline traces a dog’s 
head fairly distinctly and a 
black spot on the yellow 
makes the eye. This species 
is known as the dog’s-head 
butterfly (Fig. 63). 

The painted lady .—The jackass is proverbially the only 
animal that feeds on thistles. This is by no means a correct 
notion, however, for one of the butterflies is commonly known 
as the thistle butterfly, as its larvae are found almost exclusively 
on different species of thistles. This is a butterfly with mottled 
wings, red, orange, and black predominating in the pattern, and 
is called the painted lady (Fig. 64). The caterpillar, when well 
grown, is one and one-fourth inches in length, has a velvety black 
body with yellow marks on the sides, and appears warty with 
little tubercles out of which grow tufts of hair. This caterpillar 
pulls the leaves together and fastens them with silk of its own 
weaving so as to form its protective nest, usually at the top of the 
thistle stalk. The thistle spines help keep away the birds that 



Fig. 63.—The dog’s head butterfly, 
Meganostamo saeconia. 




INSECTS 


93 


would like to feed upon it. The undersides of the wings of this 
butterfly are marbled in gray and brown. It is distinguished 
from a close relative, the painted beauty, by the fact that 
the latter has some large eyespots on the underside of its wings. 
The larva of the painted beauty 
feeds on everlastings. 

The anglewings .—This is an¬ 
other group of butterflies, with 
brown wings that are mottled 
with darker spots. The hind 
wing bears a little projection at 
its outer angle and, in general, 
the wings are rather angular 
along the outer border. On the 
underside of each hind wing 
there is a small silver mark; in one species it is a comma, in 
another an interrogation point, etc. These butterflies, com¬ 
monly known as anglewings, belong to the genus Grapta. The 
hairstreaks (Fig. 65) have an even more conspicuous projection 

at the outer angle of the hind 
wing. 

Bluets and coppers. — One 
may not travel the woodland 
paths, especially in the moist 
borders, without seeing a little 
blue butterfly known as a bluet. 
In company with these one 
often finds little copper-colored 
butterflies called the little cop¬ 
pers. There are many species 
of each of these sorts, and the 
reader must be referred to some of the books listed in the bibli¬ 
ography at the end of the next chapter for the specific names. 

The swallowtails— The butterflies that, because of their large 
size, brilliant color, and tantalizingly lazy flight, will probably 




Fig. 64.—The painted lady 







94 


OUR LIVING WORLD 



Fig. 66 .—The chrysalis of the black 
swallowtail. 


most attract the amateur collector are the swallowtails, of the 
genus Papilio. One of the commonest is the yellow swallowtail, 
a good-sized butterfly, measuring five inches across the wings. 
The wings are yellow, but are bordered with black, and across the 

forewings run some black bands, 
one of which extends to the hind 
wing. There are some crescent¬ 
shaped spots of yellow along the 
border of the wing and two blue 
spots near the inner angle of 
the hind wing. Sometimes this 
same butterfly appears in a 
much more somber hue; the 
wings are then black, but even 
so the markings described may 
be indistinctly seen. The favorite food of the caterpillar is the 
tulip tree. 

The black papilio .—This insect not infrequently invades our 
gardens to lay its eggs on carrot or parsley. The larvae are 
alternately banded with yellow 
and black and are sometimes 
known as rag-carpet worms. 

They have a gland on the head, 
which gland turns inside out, 
appearing as a V-shaped tongue, 
when the animal is disturbed, 
emitting a villainously disagree¬ 
able odor as a means of protec¬ 
tion. The chrysalis of this 

butterfly, as of all the papilios, Fig - 6 ?.-The giant swallowtail 
• . , i (reduced). 

is not suspended, but is fastened 

by the tail end to some support, and then held nearly upright by 
a strand of silk that passes around the thorax and is fastened at 
each end to the support (Fig. 66). It is often attached to the 
stalk of the plant on which it feeds, or to some nearby object. 







INSECTS 


95 


Papilio cresophontes , the giant swallowtail (Fig. 67), is a large 
black swallowtail, with a band of yellow spots running across 
from the tip of one forewing to the tip of the other. Another 
band of yellow spots runs parallel to the border of each wing. 
This, the largest of our native papilios, is usually found in the 
woods. The larva feeds on the hop tree and prickly ash and is 
one long to be remembered when once seen; it is a great big 
creature, as large as the middle finger on a man’s hand, and has 
an olive-green skin mottled with brown and heliotrope. 

List of food plants .—There follows immediately a list of some 
of the more common butterflies and moths, together with the food 
plants on which their larvae are most likely to be found. It is a 
fascinating task to obtain these larvae, rear them to maturity, 
watch them pupate, and then keep the pupae until spring, when 
the perfect butterflies come out. Care must be taken to keep 
the pupae in boxes in which the butterflies will have abundant 
room to spread themselves. In each box must be kept several 
twigs on which the butterflies may mount when spreading their 
wings. 


Scientific Name 

Actias luna 


MOTHS 
Common Name 


Plant on Which Larvae Feed 

Butternut, hickory, 


Luna moth 


Alypia dctomaculata 
A utomeris io 
Basilona imperialis 


Eight-spotted forester 
Io moth 
Imperial moth 


walnut 

Woodbine 

Cherry 

Butternut, cherry, elm, 


hemlock, maple, oak, 
pine, sassafras, syca- 


Callosamia promethia Promethea moth 

Calocala amalrix Sweetheart 

Catocala neogama Bride 

Catocala relicta Relict 

Catocala retecta Yellow-gray underwing 

Catocala vidua Widow 

Citheronia regalis Royal moth 

Cressonia juglandis Walnut sphinx 

Darapse myron Myron 


more 

Young cherry 
Poplar, willow 
Walnut 
Poplar, willow 
Hickory 
Hickory 
Walnut 
Walnut 

Grape, woodbine 


96 

Scientific Name 

Haemorrhagia difinis 
Hyloicus chersis 
Hyloicus eremitus 
Pachysphinx modesta 
Philosamia cynthia 
Pholos achemon 
Pholos pandorus 
Samia cecropia 

Telea polyphemus 


Scientific Name 

Anosia plexippus 
Argynnis aphrodite 
Argynnis cybele 
Argynnis idalia 
Basilarchia astyanax 
Basilarchia disippus 
Grapta comma 
Grapta interrogationis 

Papilio ajax 
Papilio asterias 
Papilio cresophontes 
Papilio philenor 

Papilio troilus 

Papilio turnus 
Pyrameis cardui 
Pyrameis huntera 
Vanessa antiopa 


OUR LIVING WORLD 

MOTHS —Continued 
Common Name 

Bumblebee moth 
Pen-marked sphinx 
Hermit 
Poplar sphinx 
Cynthia moth 
One-eyed achemon 
One-eyed pandorus 
Cecropia moth 

Polyphemus moth 


BUTTERFLIES . 

Common Name 

Milkweed butterfly 
Spangle wing 
Great fritillary 
Royal fritillary 
Red-spotted purple 
Viceroy 
Hop merchant 
Question sign 

Zebra swallowtail 
Black swallowtail 
Giant swallowtail 
Blue swallowtail 

Green-clouded swallow¬ 
tail 

Yellow swallowtail 
Painted lady 
Painted beauty 
Mourning cloak 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Plant on Which Larvae Feed 

Snowberry 
Ash, lilac 

Bergamot, spearmint 

Poplar 

Acanthus 

Grapevine 

Grapevine 

Apple, cherry, goose¬ 
berry, grape, hickory, 
maple, plum, willow 
Basswood, birch, elm, 
chestnut, oak 
walnut, willow, etc. 

Plant on Which Larvae Feed 

Milkweed 

Violet 

Violet 

Violet 

Poplar, willow 
Poplar, willow 
Hop, nettle 

Basswood, elm, hop, 
nettle 
Pawpaw 

Carrot, parsley, parsnip 
Hop tree, prickly ash 
Dutchman’s pipe, Vir¬ 
ginia snakeroot 
Sassafras, spicebush 

Tulip, wild cherry 
Thistle 
Everlasting 
Elm, poplar, willow 


The list of reference books to be used with chapter ii has been combined 
with that for chapter iii and may be found on page 137. 



Fig. 68.—A pupil’s cover design 


97 




































































































































































































































































CHAPTER III 

INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 

Ants.—No insects are more interesting than those belonging 
to the Hymenoptera, which group includes the ants, bees, and 
wasps, for these are the social insects, whose community life 
manifests examples of very complex instincts and possibly of 
rudimentary intelligence. The ants are everywhere abundant 
and are well worth careful study. Remembering Solomon’s 
advice, one may take the group of pupils out to some ants’ nest 
to observe their wise ways. If it is the middle of the day or a 
little later, the ants, whose nests are in the ground, will probably 
be found busily bringing little grains of sand up from the nest 
to the surface and dropping them on the heap that surrounds the 
entrance. Then each ant picks up another grain and carries it 
back into the nest. Apparently no more stupid procedure could 
occupy an animal than bringing sand grains out of its nest only 
to carry them in again. Have the class discover the meaning of 
this foolishness'. It may be some time before they discover that 
the ants are carrying into the nest only those grains of sand that 
have lain in the sun some time and are, therefore, warm. They 
are packed around the developing eggs so as to incubate them; 
the procedure is seen to be by no means a foolish one. 

The ant house .—The life-history of the ant may quite readily 
be studied if the ants are kept in a homemade nest (Fig. 69). 
The Fielde nest is one of the best for this purpose, and making it 
affords good drill in working from directions. Give each pupil 
a copy of the following instructions and see how many of them 
can make the nest without looking at a model or a picture of it. 

Cut a piece of glass to measure 4 by 5 inches or use an old 
photographic negative for the foundation of the nest; the size 
need not be exactly that given. The gelatin film may be cleaned 

98 


INSECTS'AND INSECT ALLIES 


99 



off the negative by soaking it in water for a little while and then 
scraping it off. Cut some glass strips one-half inch wide from 
any old window glass. It is best to use glass that is “single 
thick” and to use window glass rather than picture glass, for the 
former is softer and less difficult to cut. To cut glass secure a 
wheel glass-cutter from a hardware store for five or ten cents. 
Lay a ruler on the glass a little to the left of the line along which 
the cut is to be made and, holding the glass-cutter as you would 


Fig. 69.—Queen, workers of several sorts, and males (at left) in the ant house 
(photographed from a Fielde House, taken from Nature Study Review, Vol. I, No. 6). 

a pencil in writing, draw it along the glass beside the ruler, using 
just enough pressure to make the wheel “bite” the glass (Fig. 
70). You can best tell when this is happening by the noise. 
Any school child can cut glass, for no great strength is needed. 
When the scratch is made place the thumbs on opposite sides of 
the scratch and press upward with the bent first fingers; the 
glass will then break along the cut. 

The walls .—Fasten the half-inch strips to the foundation 
with ordinary glue, laying them broadside down along its edges. 





100 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Leave a half-inch gap at one corner for the door. Glue a second 
strip of glass to those first put on so as to make the walls of the 
house two thicknesses high, in order to allow enough space for 
the ants to move around freely inside the nest. Divide the nest 
into two rooms by a partition of glass strips, leaving a space 



Fig. 70.—Cutting glass: the upper figure, making the scratch with the whee 
cutter; lower, position of hands in breaking. 

between the end of the partition and a side wall to serve as a door. 
Cut some black cambric or calico into strips an inch wide and 
glue it to the edge of the nest all the way around, letting it lap 
over on the top of the wall and on the underside of the foundation 
glass. This makes an opaque covering for the wall of the nest 
much like a passe-partout binding. 

The roof .—Cut some strips of Turkish toweling an inch wide. 
Turn in the edges of the strips so that they meet, thus making 





INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


IOI 


them a half-inch wide but double. Now cement the turned-in 
edges to the top of the half-inch glass strips that form the walls 
of the nest. Cut pieces of glass of proper size to cover each room 
of the nest and lay them on the Turkish toweling for a roof; the 
toweling admits enough air to ventilate the rooms well. Since 
ants are accustomed to live in the dark, pieces of cardboard 
should be cut the same size as the glass covers for each room and 
laid over the nest. When the nest is in use, keep the parts in 
place by putting a rubber band about them all. Cut a slice of 
sponge and place in the inner room, which may be designated the 
living-room, the outer being the dining-room. Before this is 
done, however, the nest should dry out for a couple of days, as 
the odor of glue is offensive even to ants. 

Stocking the nest— Break open a stump that is the home of 
ants, or dig up an ants’ nest in the ground until the eggs, larvae, 
or pupae are discovered. The eggs are tiny white granules, not 
larger than the section of the wire of a pin; the larvae look some¬ 
thing like rice grains, but are segmented and are curved at the 
smaller end, while the pupae appear like puffed rice grains. 
Scoop up the eggs, larvae, or pupae, together with some of the 
ants; it will do no harm if considerable dirt and debris are taken 
up with the animals. Put the Fielde nest into a flat pan that 
is at least twice the size of the nest. Make sure that the sponge 
in the nest is moist. Then set this pan into one that is still larger 
and pour some water into the outer pan. Dump the contents of 
the fruit jar into the inner pan near the nest. As ants do not 
take kindly to the water they are now confined to the inner pan 
by the moat of water that surrounds it. Some few of the more 
venturesome ones may jump off into the water and drown, but 
most of them will remain in the inner pan. As the pile of debris 
dries out the ants will hunt for a more congenial place, and some 
one of them will discover the door to the nest. It will find there 
a dark, moist chamber quite to its liking and will proceed to carry 
some of the pupae and eggs into the nest. Other ants will soon 
be engaged in the same occupation. The problem as to whether 
the first ant communicated the discovery to the others is an 


102 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


interesting one for the children to solve. When most of the ants 
and their belongings are transferred to the nest, plug the door 
of the nest with a wad of absorbent cotton and remove the nest 
from the pan. In this home the ants will live for an indefinite 
time. There is no dirt in the nest and none is needed. 

A fruit-jar nest .—Theie is another convenient way to make a 
nest, although it does not give as satisfactory results as the 
foregoing method, for it does not show the activities of the ants 
as well. Place as large a tumbler as possible, mouth down, in a 
wide-mouthed fruit jar. Put the rotten wood or dirt, together 
with the ants, eggs, and larvae that have been collected, into the 
pint jar and shake the material down so it will lie between the 
tumbler and the outer wall of the fruit jar. The ants will con¬ 
struct the passages and the chambers of their nest in the narrow 
space. Cover the outside of the jar with black paper or cloth, 
which may be removed when the ants are under observation. 

Feeding ants .—In the Fielde nest the activities of the ants 
may be seen by removing the cardboard covers for a little while 
or by simply lifting the nest up from the table and looking at it 
from below. Ants require very little feeding. A bit of peanut 
as large as the head of a pin may be put into the dining-room 
once a week and it will serve as food for a colony of twenty ants. 
A bit of sponge cake dipped in honey is much appreciated and an 
occasional shred of raw meat is a good change of diet. Food 
should not be left in the nest more than a few hours, and whatever 
then remains uneaten should be taken out of the nest. Otherwise 
it is liable to mold, and mold is a great enemy of the ant, causing 
death in the colony. 

House cleaning .—The air of the nest must be kept moist, 
which is accomplished by keeping the slice of sponge moist. In 
such an atmosphere mold spores will promptly grow, so that the 
only way to keep the nest free from the dangerous mold is to keep 
it thoroughly clean. It should be cleaned weekly, oftener if 
mold starts to grow. Take off the cardboard cover from the 
dining-room and the ants will retreat into the dark living-room, 


INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


103 


carrying their belongings with them. Lift the glass cover off 
the dining-room and plug the door between the rooms with 
absorbent cotton. Moisten a bit of cloth with alcohol and wipe 
floor, walls, and glass cover. The alcohol kills any mold spores 
that may be present. The glass cover should be left off for a few 
minutes until the fumes of alcohol have entirely disappeared, as 
they are irritating to the ants. Remove the plug of cotton 
between the rooms, replace the glass cover and the cardboard 
one, and proceed in the same way to clean the other room. 



a b c 

Courtesy 0/ United States Department 0/ Agriculture 

Fig. 71.— a, worker bee; b, queen; c, drone 


Bees.— The complicated social life of an insect colony may 
well be studied with a hive of bees. The colony of bees consists 
of the queen or mother bee, a great many workers that are really 
immature females, and, at certain times, a number of males or 
drones (Fig. 71). The sole business of the queen is to lay eggs. 
These are laid in wax cells, which have been previously prepared 
by the workers. It takes an egg three days to hatch into a larva. 
The larva of a worker bee requires eleven days to reach maturity. 
Then the cell in which the mature larva lies is covered over with 
a cap of wax, and the larva, after spinning a silken lining to its 
cell, goes into the pupal condition. It remains in the pupal 
condition seven days, then gnaws through the cap and crawls out 




104 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


a worker. At first its body is soft and its wings are limp; but 
gradually the parts harden. During the first few days of its life 
it remains in the hive, feeding on the honey stored there and 
helping to care for the growing larvae. When the young worker 
is ready to leave the hive it flies outside and for some hours buzzes 
up and down, back and forth, in front of the hive, apparently 
registering in its nervous system the objects in the neighborhood 
of the hive so that it may know its own home when it returns from 
its first flight after honey and the other things the workers must 
bring into the hive. 

Brood and honey cells— The process of laying eggs and caring 
for the young occurs in what are known as the brood cells, a 
group of cells in the lower part of the hive. The upper part of 
the hive is filled with the honey that the bees provide to rear their 
young and to carry the colony over the winter. In the modern 
hive the lower and upper portions are usually separated by a zinc 
partition, perforated with holes large enough to let the workers 
pass, but not large enough for the queens or drones to go through. 
It would be an inconvenience to the bee culturist to have brood 
comb and honeycomb mixed. The queen usually begins laying 
her eggs near the center of the brood comb and keeps depositing 
them in cells that are farther and farther out toward the 
periphery. Meanwhile the workers are building new cells. 
After gorging themselves with honey they cling to each other and 
hang in masses, constantly moving their wings. The heat so 
generated seems to help transform the honey into wax, which 
exudes as little scales from the glands of the abdomen. These 
flecks of wax are scraped off by the workers and carried to the 
comb, where the wax is built into the walls of the new cells. It 
is when honey is rapidly coming into the hive that the queen 
lays her greatest number of eggs, as many as two or three thou¬ 
sand per day. As the eggs hatch the larvae are fed on a mix¬ 
ture of nectar, pollen, and partially digested food, regurgitated 
from the alimentary tract of the workers; this latter food is 
known as bee milk. 


INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 105 

Hive population .—In an ordinary hive there are from thirty 
thousand to forty thousand bees, the great majority being 
workers. It would seem as if the number of workers must 
increase very rapidly, since the queen lays so many eggs; but, 
as a matter of fact, the life of the average bee is short, perhaps 
not more than six or eight weeks. This term of life may be 
reduced under adverse conditions or may be increased, under 
exceptionally favorable conditions, to perhaps as much as a year. 

Drones. —Annually, and more frequently under some condi¬ 
tions, the queen deposits unfertilized eggs in cells that are a 
half-inch in diameter and therefore much larger than the ordi¬ 
nary worker cells. These unfertilized eggs develop into larvae 
that require twelve days to mature and the pupae take nine days 
to reach maturity. The bees that come from these large cells 
are the drones or males and are much larger than the workers. 
They have a rounded abdomen and their buzz is a louder and 
deeper note than is emitted by the ordinary worker.. They are 
usually killed or driven from the hive after the period of their 
usefulness is over. 

New queens .—At the same time that the drones are develop¬ 
ing, certain eggs are growing into new queens. These eggs are 
deposited in queen cells. The queen cell is larger than a worker 
cell and is elongated at the upper end into a vase-shaped top, 
which makes it easily recognized; it is built by itself, not among 
the cells of the ordinary comb. The larvae in these queen cells 
are fed on pure bee milk. They develop rapidly, coming to 
maturity in eight days and requiring only five days to pupate. 
The queen bee is very much larger than the worker, the abdomen 
is much distended, tapering at the end. The egg from which the 
queen develops is a fertilized egg just like that from which the 
workers come, but the difference in feeding results m the dif¬ 
ference in the kind of bee. 

Swarming .—The bees in a hive will not ordinarily be content 
when more than one queen is present; therefore when the new 
queens develop swarming is likely to occur. The bees issue from 


io6 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the hive, and a queen, followed by many drones, flies up into the 
air where she mates with one of the drones, commonly the one 
capable of longest flight in her pursuit. At this mating the sperm 
sac of the female is filled with the fertilizing elements from the 
male. This sac is under the control of the female, so that, as the 
egg passes down the oviduct in laying, the opening of the sperm 
receptacle may be kept closed, when the egg is unfertilized and 
results in a drone, or it may open far enough to let some sperm 
escape and fertilize the egg. In the latter case a queen or a 
worker results, according to the feeding. This mating of the 
male and female occurs but once in the life of the female. She 
may live four or five years, but ordinarily does not have more 
than two years of maximum productivity, which makes it cus¬ 
tomary to re-queen the hive every two years. 

Clipping the queen .—After the nuptial flight the queen comes 
back to the nest and leads off a host of the workers to find new 
and more commodious quarters. In bee culture it is evidently 
unwise to allow this swarming to occur for fear the swarm may be 
lost. At best it is a difficult task to hive the swarm successfully. 
It is much better to transfer a queen and sufficient workers to a 
new hive. The queens are therefore usually taken in hand and 
the wings clipped with a pair of scissors or a sharp knife. Since 
it is well to know the age of the queen it is wise to clip the wings 
in a different way each year. It is customary to clip the right 
wings on even years and the left wings on odd years. 

The movable frame .—The modern hive consists of a lower 
portion, in which the brood comb is formed, and an upper part, 
in which the honey is stored. This upper part is stocked with 
movable frames. Before the frame is put into the hive it is 
supplied with sheets of wax, known as the foundations and 
stamped with the outlines of worker cells. The bees continue 
to build on this foundation, making the cells that will be stocked 
with honey. After the cell is formed and stocked with honey it 
is capped with wax. The honey is ordinarily brought into the 
hive in a relatively short time, a good hive of bees bringing in 


INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


107 

from ten to fifteen pounds of honey a day while the clover, bass¬ 
wood, or other blossoms last, from which they can secure a large 
supply. A single hive may yield fifty to seventy-five pounds of 
honey a year or even more. Not all gathered can be taken from 
the hive, as the bees must have some for their own use. Ordina¬ 
rily the combs are removed from the hive as soon as they are filled 
and capped. The caps are cut off with a warm sharp knife and 
the honey is poured out. The empty comb can then be returned 



jr IG> 72—Children watching the removal of honey from hive 


to the hive to be refilled. In this way the beekeeper secures from 
the hive a larger amount of strained honey than he could possibly 
get of comb honey, since it requires about fifteen pounds of 
honey to make a pound of wax. 

Good stock— In stocking the hive it is important to get a good 
strain of bees. The bees known as Italians are generally con¬ 
sidered the best, as they are docile, excellent workers, and hardy. 
With the protection of gloves and veil, one may readily work 
around the apiary without any danger from stings (Fig. 72), 
and as soon as one can get used to having the bees crawling over 




io8 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


his person without making sudden, threatening movements he 
may work about the hive quite unprotected. The worker bee 
stings only in self-defense, the drone is a stingless creature, and 
the female uses her sting only on rival females. 

The United States Department of Agriculture issues several 
pamphlets on beekeeping and most of the states issue, either from 
the agriculture department or from the agricultural college, 
detailed instructions applicable to local conditions (see bibli¬ 
ography). 

Demonstration hive .—Many phases of the life of the bee can 
be better seen in a hive devised for the purpose than in the 
ordinary commercial hive. Such hives, built for school use, can 
be obtained from many dealers in bee supplies. 1 There follows 
directions for making such a hive that can easily be built by any 
ingenious boy or girl for the schoolroom or home. Any local 
beekeeper will willingly stock it for the school; directions for 
stocking it are also appended. 

In such a small hive, intended to show the life-history and 
activities of the bees, there is need for brood comb only. Since 
the bees cannot store much honey and so must be fed at times, 
the hive stands on a box base arranged to hold a simple feeder. 
The hive itself has double glass sides through which the bees may 
be watched. The glass used in the hive, for which dimensions 
are given below, is 12 by 16 inches, a stock size. The boards 
are of half-inch stuff unless otherwise specified (Fig. 73). 

Cut the boards to build a box 4 by 6^ by 20 inches outside 
measure with a top depressed one-half inch below the sides and 
projecting one inch beyond them at one end. At the opposite 
end the box is left open to receive the feeder. On the top will 
stand two uprights, each 3I by 12^ inches, which are to be the 
ends of the hive and so must be grooved to receive the glass sides. 
Provide the grooves in this way: Out of quarter-inch stuff, such 
as can be obtained in any small wooden box, cut two strips 1^ by 

1 A. I. Root & Co., Medina, Ohio, make a very good one that lists at from 
$4.00 to $10.00, stocked. 


INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


IOQ 


12 inches and eight that are the same length but one-quarter inch 
wide. Nail one of the wide strips lengthwise in the middle of each 
upright, its end flush with the top of the upright. Parallel to it 
and one-eighth inch from it, fasten on either side one of the 
quarter-inch strips, and one-eighth inch farther out, another. 
Thus on either side of the inch-and-a-half-wide strip there is, 
first, a one-eighth-inch groove, then a one-quarter-inch strip, and 
a second one-eighth-inch groove. Fasten a strip, \ by i inch, 
one-eighth inch below the ends of each pair of quarter-inch strips; 



Fig. 73.—Front and rear views of demonstration beehive 


these will support some narrow strips of glass. Cut a door one 
inch wide and a half-inch high in the middle of the basal end of 
one of these uprights. 

Fasten these grooved uprights, with screws, to the top of the 
box base with the grooved faces toward each other, one at the 
open end, the other, with the door in it, three and seven-eighths 
inches from the other end, so that there is a space of one inch 
between the sides of the box top and the edges of the uprights. 
The uprights should now be at proper distance to receive the 
i2-by-i6-inch panes of glass. Next put the box base together, 
the uprights in place on its top. Fill the spaces between the 





no 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


uprights and the sides with four blocks, each £ by i inch. Bore 
three half-inch holes in the middle line of the top of the box base 
and cover with strips of excluder metal. This permits workers 
to pass out of the hive and into the box base but will not allow 
queens or drones to pass; it may be purchased of any dealer in 
bee supplies. Cut two strips of glass, each i by 16 inches, and 
set them into the horizontal grooves prepared for them as di¬ 
rected. Put in the four panes of glass. With screws fasten a 
top piece, 4J by 17! inches, on the uprights. Cut two strips of 
galvanized or brass wire mosquito bar, 1 \ by 20 inches, and tack 
one on each side of the hive so as to cover the space between 
the glass and the sides of the box base. Cut a piece 2! by 6§ 
inches to cover the space between the sides, in front of the 
door to the hive. These spaces serve as ventilators. Cover the 
one-half-inch space above the projecting top of the box base 
with excluder metal in such a way that it can be raised to put 
in the queen. 

The feeder is made as a drawer 2! by 4! by 19 inches, outside 
measure, to slip into the open end of the box base. Fasten into 
it two partitions, 2 by 18 inches, with a notch, j by i| inches, cut 
out of the center of each. These partitions run lengthwise of the 
feeder and are an inch apart, and each is almost an inch from the 
adjacent side wall. 

In stocking the hive it is necessary to cover the glass sides of 
the hive and the ventilators with shutters. Make two shutters, 
each 12 by 16 inches, with a strip \ by 16 inches tacked at right 
angles along one edge. Cut a board 2J by 6 inches to cover the 
front ventilator. These may all be fastened on with small screw 
hooks and eyes. Put the shutters over the front ventilator and 
over one side; unscrew the top of the hive and take out the two 
panes of glass on the uncovered side; then lay the hive down on 
the covered side and support it so that it is level. Cut ten 
vertical strips of about three-day-old brood comb from a frame 
in an old hive, making them about twelve inches long and a shade 
less than an inch and a half wide. Lay these in the new hive, a 


INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


in 


freshly cut surface against the glass side, so as to leave about 
three-quarter-inch spaces between them. If the brood comb 
does not contain considerable honey, cut a couple of similar strips 
from the honeycomb in another frame and set these in, in place 
of two of the brood comb. Replace the glass sides, screw on the 
top, and put on the side shutter. 

Raise the excluder at the front of the hive and put in the 
queen. Prop up a two-foot length of wide board so that it will 
be about on a level with the hive door. In the late afternoon of a 
day when the bees are gathering honey well, shake on this board 
the bees from a couple of combs of an old hive; enough young 
bees will go in to stock the new hive even if many old ones fly 
back home. Leave the hive on its side for a couple of days, when 
it may be stood upright and taken to its permanent stand. 
Place it, door end out, under the raised sash of a window in the 
schoolroom or at home, next the casement. Fill the remaining 
space under the sash with a board so that the bees may not enter 
the room. It will be necessary to feed the colony at first, using 
a syrup made of one part, by volume, of water to two of sugar. 
Bring the water to a boil and slowly stir in the sugar, stirring 
until it dissolves so that it will not scorch, as burned syrup is 
often fatal to bees. It will also be necessary to feed them when¬ 
ever nectar is scarce. If the room temperature is kept between 
40° and 70° the bees will winter in this hive kept in its place in 
the window. 

Wasps.—Among the common wasps none are more interesting 
than the paper wasp, the mud dauber, and the digger wasp. 
The paper wasp is the one that builds its nest out of gray material 
laid down in thin layers like paper (Fig. 74). This really is a 
true paper, as it is made by the wasps from wood fiber that is 
reduced to pulp by chewing and mixed with a secretion that 
gives it firmness. There are two groups of these paper wasps 
that are of almost universal distribution in the North. 

Vespa— Vespa builds an egg-shaped nest, which is attached 
to trees, buildings, or other sheltered spots. It is a covered nest, 


11 2 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


provided with an outer wall of paper. The opening for the 
entrance and exit of the wasps is at the small and lower end of the 
nest. When ripped open such a nest is seen to have a central 
stalk, to which are attached a succession of flat paper combs, 
quite similar to the bees’ comb. In the cells of these combs are 
the eggs, the larvae, the pupae, and the immature wasps. The 
nest is therefore something like a dwelling of several stories. 
These flat circular combs do not run out so as to come in contact 
with the exterior wall, but a space left between this outer wall and 



Fig. 74.—The paper wasp’s nest ( Polistes) (after Herrick) 


the combs is used by the wasps in getting from level to level. 
The life-history of the young wasp is very similar to that of the 
young bee, but the food with which it is supplied consists of 
insects or spiders that are put into the cell when the egg is laid 
or shortly after and sealed with it. 

Polistes.—Polistes builds an uncovered nest, usually a single 
circular comb which is attached by means of a central stalk, to 
the eaves of a barn, to the underside of a fence rail, or to 
some such object. Polistes is commonly known as the white¬ 
faced hornet because the males of the species have characteristic 
white markings on the head. They are also stingless. William 




INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


1 13 


Hamilton Gibson, in his delightful book Sharp Eyes, tells how he 
demonstrated to a deluded friend the possibility of handling a 
hornet with impunity. In a postscript to the article he warns 
the novice in insect adventure to be careful to select the white¬ 
faced hornet for the experiment. 

Mud daubers and diggers —The common mud daubers are 
metallic blue wasps with nar¬ 
row waists that build, out of 
mud, the cell in which the 
egg is laid and the young is 
reared. You will frequently 
find these wasps working 
along the margin of a pond 
or stream, gathering in their 
mandibles a pellet of clay, 
which they bear in flight to 
the nest site. The cell is usu¬ 
ally plastered to the under¬ 
side of the limb of a tree, to 
the hollow of a fence post or 
low stump, and, not infre¬ 
quently, to the rafters of the 
barn. It is a rather skilfully 
made clay jug as large as a 
thumb. In this the egg is 
deposited, together with the 
spiders, the larvae, or the in¬ 
sects that have been more or 
less completely killed by the sting of the wasp. Some species 
build many clay cells together, forming a good-sized dry nest 

(Fig- 75 )- i , . . , 

The digger wasp excavates a hole in the earth and in it the 

larvae are reared to maturity (Fig. 76). All of these wasps 
manifest complex instincts. Those of the digger wasp have been 
studied with a great deal of care. After excavating the hole, or 



Fig. 75.—Mud dauber’s nest; lower 
figure removed from board to show in¬ 
terior cells filled with spiders. 




OUR LIVING WORLD 


114 

finding one to her liking already made, the wasp proceeds to stock 
it with insects of various sorts and with spiders. As she flies 
among the garden shrubbery she sees a spider, pounces upon it, 
and stings it with two or three thrusts. Usually the animal is not 
instantly killed, but is more or less completely paralyzed by the 
poison. Seizing the animal with her feet and holding it close to 
her body, the wasp flies to her hole and places the victim within 
(Fig. 77). Usually several spiders or larvae are placed in the 
same hole; on them the eggs are laid, sometimes only one, 
sometimes several. The wasp plugs the opening of the hole and 



Fig. 76.—Holes of digger wasp (Microbembex monodonta) at left; wasp at 
entrance to hole at right. 


levels it off to conform to the surrounding ground. When the 
eggs hatch the larvae are abundantly supplied with food until 
they grow to full size and pupate. When the adult wasp comes 
from the pupa it must break out of its underground cell to begin 
its independent life. 

Untaught instincts .—If it chances to be a female, it goes 
through the same procedure as did its mother. This is all done 
without any teaching, without even the opportunity to learn by 
imitation, and yet the complex actions are accomplished gener¬ 
ation after generation. It has been said that the instinct is 
unerring, that the wasp stings the insect or spider in its nervous 
system, producing only paralysis and not death, so that the 








INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


“5 


young are supplied with fresh meat. This has been demon¬ 
strated to be an inaccurate statement, however, for not infre¬ 
quently the captive is killed and the food is in various stages of 
decomposition before the young are ready to feed upon it. It 
has been found, moreover, that if the objects immediately around 
the opening of the nest be changed the wasp readily loses the nest, 
has to hunt for it a long time, and not infrequently gives it up 
and makes a new one in which to begin the process all over again. 



Fig. 77 — xhe cicada killer {New Jersey State Board of Agriculture Report , 
1899). 

There is therefore no intelligent appreciation of a new situation 
and the behavior is merely that of blind, inborn instinct, which is 
very wonderful none the less. 

Bugs—The squash bug (Fig. 78) is a good type of a large 
group of insects that are properly called bugs. All bugs are 
insects, but not all insects are bugs. Only those insects whose 
mouth parts are arranged as a sharp sucking-tube and that 
possess wings that are partly leathery and partly gauzy are to be 
classed as Hemiptera or bugs. The squash bug fulfils these 
requirements. It is the grayish, triangular bug so commonly 





116 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


found on the squash or cucumber vines. The head is small, the 
eyes are large, the thorax is broad, and the abdomen is largely 
covered by two pairs of wings. The underwings are membranous 
and the upper ones meet in a zigzag line down the back. (There 
is one large section of the bugs, including the cicada or seventeen- 
year locust, that has both pairs of wings membranous.) The 
squash bug lays its eggs on the underside of the leaf. The young 
that hatch are much like the adults, but are wingless. These 
nymphs undergo a succession of molts as they grow and finally 
reach the adult condition about three weeks after the eggs are 
laid. When disturbed the squash bug gives off an offensive odor, 



Fig. 78.—Squash bug on leaf margin; note sucking-tube 


a common trick among the bugs. This is presumably a pro¬ 
tective proceeding, as a bird that would otherwise feed with 
avidity on these soft-bodied insects would be repelled by the 
disagreeable taste. Many of the Hemiptera are therefore com¬ 
monly known as stink bugs. 

Plant pests .—In this group of bugs occur many of man’s worst 
insect enemies. Here belong the plant lice, those tiny soft- 
bodied insects so common on house plants and on the garden 
plants too (Fig. 79). Their sucking-tubes are used to penetrate 
the tissue of the plant, from which sap is withdrawn as food. 
While these insects are very tiny, their enormous rate of repro¬ 
duction (p. 165) makes their ravages serious, as plants become so 






INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


117 


thoroughly infested that they die from the loss of their juices. 
Many persons have experienced the loss of sweet-pea vines from 
the plant lice. In this group of bugs we also find the scale 
insects, which secure their food in the same way from shade and 
fruit trees. The cottony scale on our elms and maples and the 
San Jose scale on the apple trees are samples of these pests. 
Some of them cause characteristic swellings on the stems or 
leaves of plants and the colony of plant lice or aphids live within 
the enlargement. Such growths are designated galls; the cocks¬ 
comb gall (Fig. 80) on the elm leaf and a similar one on terminal 



Fig. 79.—Plant lice: the corn-root aphis whose eggs and young are cared for 
and the colonies of aphids pastured on the roots of the corn by the brown ant 
Lasius niger var. americanus (after Webster). 

twigs of the cottonwood are well-known samples. Most of the 
galls are caused by insects belonging to a group of the Hyme- 
noptera known as gallflies. Several of the more common bugs 
live in the water and are considered in the chapter on “ Animals 
of Pond and Stream.” 

Beetles.— None of the insects are more in evidence to a careful 
observer than are the beetles. These insects have very hard wing 
covers, and this fact gives them their scientific name of Coleop- 
tera, meaning stony-winged. The wing covers are protective 
devices, smooth and slippery, covering the soft body as well as 
the gauzy wings that are the real organs of flight. The potato 
beetle is a familiar example (Fig. 81). The female lays her eggs 





118 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


on the underside of the leaf or the stem. These hatch out into 
soft-bodied larvae, which do not have a wormlike form. It will 
be recalled that the term “larva” is applied to the young of an 
insect when it does not look like the adult. It is so often used 
for the familiar wormlike larvae of the moths and butterflies 
that we at once think of such forms when the term is used. The 



Fig. 8o. —The cockscomb gall of the cottonwood (after Cook, Report of the 
Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources). 

larva of the potato beetle grows rapidly, feeding on the foliage 
of the plants. As it grows it molts and finally, at the last molt, 
appears as the adult. The adult winters in the rubbish on the 
surface of the ground or in shallow depressions. As a rule 
neither the beetle nor its young are eaten by the birds. Appar¬ 
ently the bright coloration, the alternate stripes of black and 
orange red that mark the wing covers, serve as a warning to most 
birds that the animal has a vile taste. There is at least one 




INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


119 

conspicuous exception, however; both beetle and young are 
eaten eagerly by the rose-breasted grosbeak. Evidently tastes 
differ, even among birds. 

The potato beetle originally belonged to the eastern slopes of 
the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Montana, where it feeds 
upon the wild members of the potato family. When settlers, in 
pushing westward, introduced the cultivated potato into its 
neighborhood, it was prompt to take advantage of the new food 



Fig. 81 —The potato beetle: a, on the potato plant (after Herrick); b, the 
larva (Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin No 155 )> c > the adult (Iowa 
Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin No. 155)* 


plant, and began its eastward migration about 1859, arriving on 
the Atlantic Coast of Massachusetts in 1874 (Figs. 82 and 83). 

Ground beetles —Among the first beetles that will come to the 
attention of the child who is collecting insects will be the large 
ground beetles that are quite brightly colored. They are long- 
legged, predatory beetles, corrfmonly found hiding under stones, 
logs, and bits of bark, and capture other insects by running them 
down. The largest of these common ground beetles, as large as 
the last joint of the thumb, is iridescent purple, with reddish 





120 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


legs; this is the fiery hunter (Fig. 84). Another very common 
member of this genus, known as the searcher, is about half as 
large as the one just noted and has a greenish body with rows of 
coppery spots on the wing covers. Another closely related 
ground beetle that is a good hunter is the bombardier beetle. 
He is a bluish-green beetle, about half an inch long, and has the 
habit of discharging a very irritating fluid, in the form of a spray, 
from the tip of the abdomen. When a bird or other enemy is 



Fig. 82-The potato beetle’s routes of migration, with dates of arrival at 
some localities (after Tower). 


about to pick up the insect this discharge is so surprising that it 
gives the beetle a moment in which to scamper to shelter. One 
was dropped into an ants’ nest that was teeming with life. As 
the ants seized it, it defended itself with its spray and got away 
from one group of ants only to be caught by another. But by 
successive discharges it managed to reach the edge of the large 
nest and make good its escape. 

Tiger beetles .—A tiger hunt certainly sounds thrilling and 
these insect tigers are quite as voracious, size considered, as the 





Fig. 83.—Map showing invasion of the cotton-boll weevil 






















































































































122 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


jungle beast. They are predatory beetles found in such open 
places as the lake shores, margins of streams, sandy patches in 
the woods and fields, and along woodland paths. The tiger 
beetle is not very large, being about half an inch long, rather 
slender, and having slender legs. It may be of almost any color 
from black to white, though the commoner forms are brownish 
and are marked with yellow spots and bars of intricate design; 
the underside is iridescent green. The animal feeds on flies and 
other small insects, on which it pounces with tiger-like ferocity. 
As it alights, after flying on your approach, it almost always 



Fig. 84.—The fiery hunter and the searcher beetles 


turns about so as to face you. When one is collecting beetles, 
there is quite as much fascination in hunting these tigers as there 
is in tracking the great cat from which they take their name, 
though this sport lacks the spice of danger. f 

Regional distribution .—It is worth while to keep track of the 
region from which specimens of the tiger beetle are obtained, for 
each species seems to have strong preferences for a particular 
locality. In the Chicago region, for instance, one tiger commonly 
hunts along the lake shore, close to the water; another is found 
on the loose sand of the shore; still another is found back where 
the cottonwoods are beginning to grow (Fig. 85). When the 
oak forests, away from the lake, are reached, a fourth species is 





INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


123 


common, while in the richer forest lands, where maple and beech 
are growing, still another species is found hunting along the paths. 
Along the shores of stagnant pools there is a different species, 
while on the moist clay hillsides another sort is common. Prob¬ 
ably no other group of insects will give the young collector a 
better idea of regional distribution than will this group of the 
tiger beetles. 

Wood borers .—A great many beetles are wood borers, at least 
in their larval condition. In seeking for them, therefore, it is a 



Fig. 85.—Tiger beetles on sand (X2) 

very good plan to strip off the bark from partly decayed logs 
and stumps. One of the commonest of the wood-boring beetles, 
the horned Passalus, is shown in Fig. 86. The larvae of such 
animals are provided with horny jaws, to which powerful muscles 
attach, so that often the mouth end of the larva is conspicuously 
the larger end. It is worth while to follow the passages in a 
rotten log, chipping away the wood with a hatchet or chisel,, so 
as to get at the adult beetles; this is especially true in the spring 
and early summer when the larvae are likely to be transforming 
into the adults. There are many species of wood-boring beetles 
and they do an immense amount of damage to timber, for not a 





124 


OUR LIVING WORLD 




Fig. 86.—The horned Passalus and its 
larva, a wood borer. 


few of them attack the living trees, especially when dead timber 
is not abundant. It behooves the farmer, therefore, to keep his 

wood lot cleaned up so that 
the wood borers will have 
little or no rotting material 
in which to deposit the eggs 
and rear their young. 

None of the wood borers 
are more interesting to the 
novice than the click beetles. 
The largest one of these that 
is at all common is a rather 
long, somewhat flattened, 
grayish beetle, with two large 
eyespots on the thorax (Fig. 
87). These are not real eyes, 
but simply spots that look 
somewhat like eyes as we make them in a conventional drawing. 
There are some other clicks of the 
same general form that are nut 
brown in color. When any of these 
beetles are laid, back down, on the 
palm of the hand they usually try 
to right themselves by a sudden 
backward jerk of the head and 
thorax, and in so doing make a 
distinct click. It is this peculiar 
movement that has given the ani¬ 
mals their name. 

Certain of the boring beetles 
have very long antennae and are 
known as the longhorns. A typi¬ 
cal one is shown in Fig. 88. These 
beetles live chiefly in the wood of the conifers, and wherever these 
trees are found the beetles are plentiful. 


Fig. 87.—The eyed elater ( Al¬ 
ans oculatus ) and its larva. 






INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


125 


Lady beetles .—While many of the beetles are injurious to the 
timber and to the farm crops, there are some that are exceedingly 
beneficial. The first that should be mentioned in this connection 
is the common lady beetle or ladybird (Fig. 89). Both the adult 
and the larva of many species of this insect feed on plant lice 
and on other soft-bodied bugs found on the foliage. Among the 
worst enemies of our orange trees and grapefruit trees are some 
species of scale insects. A few years ago it looked as if the orange 
industry in California was doomed because of these little scales. 
As the pest had made its way into this country on fruit imported 



Fig. 88.—A longhorn beetle whose larvae bore in pine logs 


from Asia the Department of Agriculture sent its experts there 
to find the natural enemies of this particular scale. These men 
brought back with them some lady 
beetles which they had found preyed 
upon the scale and liberated them in 
the California orange groves. The 
beetles took kindly to their new en¬ 
vironment and busily set to work 
cleaning out the scale insects. As they 
have multiplied with rapidity they and their progeny are keep¬ 
ing the pest well under control. 

Flies and disease.—There is a whole legion of different sorts 
of flies and they vary in size from the microscopic “nosee-um” 



Fig. 89.—Nine-spotted 
ladybird beetle and its larva. 




126 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


of the north woods to some of the huge flies that attack cattle 
(Fig. 90). All have only two wings, the second pair being 
modified to form a pair of organs known as the balancers. 
Scientifically the group is known as the Diptera. In it belong 
many biting flies whose mouth parts are arranged in the form of a 
tube, provided at its tip with lancelets that cut through the skin 
to the deeper layers bearing blood. The common mosquito is an 
example. In the chapter that follows on the “ Spore-Bearers” 
some experiments will be given to help demonstrate that the fly 
is liable to carry disease germs. Its life-habits make it a dan¬ 
gerous animal to have about the premises. In many cities the 
house fly has been practically exterminated from the residence 



Fig. 90.—Flies: a, serphid; b, robber fly 


sections, at least, by trapping and cleaning out the possible 
breeding places. The eggs are always laid in decomposing 
organic matter, stable manure being a favorite place, though any 
moist refuse may answer. The hairy legs and feet and the sticky 
mouth parts are admirably adapted to transfer germs from place 
to place. It has been abundantly demonstrated that some of the 
biting flies are the means of the transfer of specific micro¬ 
organisms that cause disease; thus the sleeping sickness of 
Africa is occasioned by the bite of the tsetse fly. Certain species 
of mosquitoes carry germs of malaria and of yellow fever. 

It has long been known that the inhabitants of marshy 
grounds are prone to malaria, but it is only in relatively recent 





INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


127 


times that we have learned that the real danger lies, not in any 
poisonous exhalations from the marshes, but in the bite of the 
mosquito infected with malaria germs because it had bitten some 
one suffering from the disease. We know, too, that the ticks, 
the bedbugs, the body lice, and the fleas, all of which are wingless 
and more or less degenerate insects belonging to this group or to 
the bugs, are also disease carriers. Not infrequently some other 
animal serves as intermediate host. For instance, bubonic 
plague, the old much-dreaded black death of the Middle Ages, is 
carried by the rat. The flea, which may bite a rat and may leave 
the rat later for a human host, transfers the germ from the rat 
to the human host. These insect pests are therefore not only 
disagreeable but are also a serious menace to health. 

Collecting.—At various points in this chapter suggestions 
have been offered regarding the collection of insects. Of all the 
common animals, none lends itself so readily to the purposes 
of the amateur collector as this group. They multiply with such 
amazing rapidity that one does not hesitate to obtain what 
samples are needed for the collection unless it be in the case of 
the rarer sorts of butterflies. The beetles are handled with the 
least trouble, as they have such hard bodies that they need no 
preparation to insure their preservation. After being killed in 
the manner to be described, the beetle is pinned by thrusting an 
insect pin through the right wing cover, well toward its front 
(Fig. 91). To make the legs and feet show, put an oblong piece 
of card on the pin below the beetle; with forceps pull out the feet 
and make their claws lay hold of the edges of the card. Care 
must be exercised when the card is removed, after three or four 
days, that the feet do not break. Ordinarily let the legs assume 
what position they will. The insect should be run up pretty 
well toward the head of the pin, just leaving room to grasp the 
head, so that there will be plenty of pin on which to impale the 
N labels and to stick firmly into the cork that lines the insect box. 
The label is a small oblong card on which is the insect s name, the 
locality where found, the date, and possibly a number reference 
to the notes. 


128 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The net—An insect net is a desirable adjunct for the collector. 
The frame can be made in the same way as that described for 
the net to be used in collecting animals of pond and stream 
(p. 30), but it need not be made of as heavy wire. If the diameter 
of the net frame is ten inches, the net should be at least twenty- 
four inches deep; it is best made of bobinet as that will wear 
longest. Even with a large net it will require some practice 


Fig. 91.—Beetle collection 

before one can capture a butterfly on the wing. If the insect 
is at rest a quick sweep will get it into the net, when the handle 
should be so turned that the net hangs over the edge of the wire 
frame, confining the insect in the net. It may be killed by 
squirting on it, while in the net, a few drops of gasoline, which is 
conveniently carried in a bicycle oil can while out collecting; or 
the insect may be put into the killing bottle. 

The killing bottle .—Place three or four lumps of potassium 
cyanide as large as the last joint of your finger in a wide-mouthed 









INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 129 

bottle or small fruit jar. This must be handled with care, for, 
although it is not poisonous to the touch unless there is a scratch 
or other break in the skin, it is very poisonous if taken in the 
mouth; all bits should therefore be picked up carefully and the 
cyanide bottle should not be left where young children can reach 
it. Keep it tightly corked and plainly labeled. Mix a teacupful 
of plaster of Paris with water, stirring the water into the plaster 
until it is the consistency of very thick cream. Pour this over 


Fig. 92.—The spreading-board and cyanide bottle 

the cyanide in the bottle, covering it completely. In a very few 
minutes it will set hard, when any water remaining on its surface 
may be drained off. Potassium cyanide absorbs moisture from 
the air and liquefies and keeps the plaster saturated with the 
cyanide, fumes of which fill the bottle (Fig. 92). The fumes in 
this bottle are dangerous even for a person to inhale, and an 
insect dropped into the bottle is killed in a very few seconds. 
After the insects are captured it is well to leave them in the killing 
bottle so that their bodies will be saturated with the fumes; 
they are not so likely then to be riddled by the tiny insects that 




OUR LIVING WORLD 


130 

so often do damage to collections. Insects like the bugs and the 
bees and wasps may be pinned by running a pin of proper size 
through the thorax. Dragon flies, moths, butterflies, and the 
like must be spread so that the wings will remain expanded in the 
collection. 

The spreading-board .—This is most readily accomplished on a 
spreading-board (Fig. 92) made as follows: By means of two end 
strips fasten together two soft-pine boards a foot or more long 
and three or four inches wide so that they will incline toward each 
other slightly, with a groove between them that is a little wider 
than the insect’s body. About a half-inch below this groove 
fasten another - strip of pine or of sheet cork. Run the pin 
through the thorax of the insect and then set it into this strip, the 
body of the insect in the groove. Fasten the wings in position 
on the boards by means of narrow strips of paper pinned across 
them without running pins through the wings. The hind 
margins of the forewings should make a straight line that is at 
right angles to the longitudinal axis of the body. After the 
insect has been on the spreading-board for several days it may be 
removed and put in the insect box. While it is spreading it 
should be kept in a drawer or box away from mice and insect pests. 

The collection .—The box in which the insects are kept should 
have strips of cork or thin sections cut from an ordinary cork 
glued to its bottom to take the pins. Cigar boxes that are deep 
.answer very well for the amateur collector. Insect boxes may 
be purchased from any dealer in entomological supplies. To 
keep insect pests out of the collection place a moth ball in each 
box. Such moth balls, in the form of cones attached to pins, 
can be bought of the dealers. For butterflies or moths, dragon 
flies, and any of the large and fragile insects individual mounting 
boxes made of glass are worth while. Cut strips of pasteboard 
a quarter-inch wide or wider for the thick-bodied moths. Using 
passe-partout paper bind these strips along the edge of a piece of 
glass like a cleaned-up, small negative; a second similar glass 
will be used for the cover. Thrust a short pin through the 


INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


1 3 I 


center of a slice of a small cork and glue this to the bottom of the 
box, the pin point up. The insect that has been spread without 
a pin through it is impaled on this pin. When the insect is 
properly arranged in the box, put on the cover and finish binding 
with the passe-partout paper. Boxes somewhat like this are to 
be obtained ready-made from Denton Brothers, Wellesley, 
Massachusetts. Wood strips, cut to various lengths, to use in 
place of the pasteboard can be purchased cheaply of A. I. Root, 
Medina, Ohio. 

Insect relatives.—In the haunts of the insects are to be found 
some other animals, close relatives of theirs, that are among the 
most wonderful in the world—the thousand legs and the spiders. 
When hunting insect larvae or beetles, under the bark of old logs, 



Fig. 93.—Sporobolus, the millipede 


you are sure to find the thousand legs or myriapods. They 
scurry off with such haste when light is let in on them that one 
might suspect their deeds were evil, but, on the contrary, they 
are scavengers, feeding largely on dead animals that would soon 
make the woods and fields offensive were it not for them, a 
sanitary force that is ever watchful to make way with defunct 
organisms. There is one sort, Lithobius, that is flat and 
does not have so very many legs; hildren usually call them 
centipedes, though they are not truly such. Another kind is 
round and of many sizes; even the small ones, like Julus, are 
interesting, but the big round one (Sporobolus), that grows to be 
three or four inches long and as big around as the little finger, 
gives such a clever display of the use of its many legs that it is 
fascinating (Fig. 93). Watch it walk or run and see if you can 








132 OUR LIVING WORLD 

keep track of the way in which it moves its legs. What would 
happen if the beast should have a spell of awkwardness! 

Spiders.—Like the myriapods, the spiders have more legs 
than the insects; not so many more, however, as they only have 
four pairs, while the insects have three. 
In spiders the head and thorax are fused 
together into one mass, while in insects 
they are quite distinct. Spiders do not 
possess the compound eyes so common 
among the insects, but they do have 
several pairs of simple eyes which enable 
them to see only at close range. Prob¬ 
ably the most interesting structures of 
spiders, in the popular mind, are their 
fangs, used for biting, and the spinnerets that produce the web 
(Figs. 94 and 95). 

Their poison—It is too bad that most adult humans are, like 
Miss Muffit, ready to run from a spider; they are such interesting 
animals and all that we have in the North are quite harmless. 
Even the so-called tarantula, that comes to us occasionally in a 
bunch of bananas, is not fero¬ 
cious and may be handled 
with impunity. True, all 
spiders have a pair of heavy 
mandibles or jaws, ending in 
sharp claws that are used to 
pierce the bodies of their vic¬ 
tims; in these claws, too, are 
the openings of the poison 
ducts that discharge the par¬ 
alyzing fluid into the prey. But the spider sees that man is no 
proper victim; indeed, it is so afraid that it invariably tries to 
run away. Even when handled the spiders will not bite, as a 
rule; and even if they should, the bite is no more than a pin 
prick and not as serious as that of a mosquito. Some of the 



Fig. 95.—A spider’s spinnerets, jointed 
organs, the ends of which are covered with 
fine tubes from which the silk comes. 



Fig. 94.—Front view of 
spider ( Lycosa ), showing 
mandibles and palps. 


INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


133 


Old World tarantulas have nasty reputations, but it is doubtful 
if any of them ever inflict a really dangerous bite. A generation 
ago, however, the peasants of some countries in Southern Europe 
believed the bite was fatal unless the sufferer could be induced 
to dance hilariously and persistently until the dance music 
charmed away the evil. Such music that will make the victim 
dance in spite of himself is a tarantella. 

The spider's silk .—The silk glands lie in the abdomen and 
discharge their secretion through the spinnerets and in some 
species through a perforated plate also. There are three pairs 
of spinnerets, each with many openings through which a variety 
of different kinds of silk may be emitted as the spider has need 
(Fig. 95). The spider uses its hind legs to manipulate the silk 
as it comes from the spinnerets. The thread that goes into the 
web is made of many strands; in some species it is made of 
thousands. It makes an interesting school exercise to have the 
children report the different kinds of spiders’ webs that they can 
find. It sharpens their eyes and their wits, too, as they try to 
describe what they have seen. They will probably report finding 
many spiders that are not living in webs at all, the wandering 
spiders that capture their prey without a trap. Then they will 
find irregular nets, consisting of silken strands that run every 
which way, and sheet webs, plain stretches of fine-spun gossamer, 
that make themselves apparent largely by the dust they collect. 
Both these sorts are common about the house and are known as 
cobwebs. In the grass outstretched sheet webs will commonly 
be found that lead at one side to a funnel in the throat of which 
is the spider’s lair. These funnel webs are especially conspicuous 
in the morning after a dew. Likely the webs that will attract 
most attention are those made of silken strands stretched out in 
complicated patterns like delicate lacework; such are the orb 
webs and the triangular webs. In addition there will be reported 
webs that are admixtures of these several distinct sorts. 

Building the web .—No task will make the pupils more appre¬ 
ciative of the spider’s inherent skill than to watch and report on 


i 34 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the method of construction of one of these orb builder’s webs. 
It is made of two, sometimes three, distinct kinds of threads: 
the hard, inelastic kind that forms the foundation, on which the 
spider walks; the viscid, elastic threads, laid on to entrap the 
prey; and in some webs a ribbon of fine threads that the spider 
builds as a broad highway for itself. Without describing the 
method of building, attention may be called to the several parts 
of such a web. There are (i) the bridges, the outermost threads 
that the spider uses to get from point to point to lay (2) the 
foundations; (3) the radii; (4) the spiral guy line, put in to keep 
the radii taut and in place; (5) the hub, at the very center, sur¬ 
rounded by (6) a notched zone, beyond which is (7) the free zone, 
and finally there is (8) the viscid spiral. There may be also the 
broad highway of fine-spun silk ribbon, laid zigzag from the 
center, known as the stabilimentum. This is the signature of 
Argiope to its handiwork, for no other genus of spiders adds it; 
sometimes even Argiope fails to put on its trade-mark (Fig. 96). 

The use of the web .—Quite as fascinating as the building of the 
web is its method of use. Watch as some blundering fly or 
grasshopper strikes the outspread net. The spider, waiting at 
the center or in its retreat off at one side, feels the shock of 
contact, the victim’s vicious pulls on the sticky threads as it tries 
to escape. If it is a small animal the spider likely bites it at once 
and so paralyzes it, then leisurely sucks its blood. But if the 
insect is a large one, the spider must entangle its legs in silken 
folds so that it may not rip the web to pieces and escape. 
Darting up to the animal, spinning as it goes a sheet of silk, it 
deftly thrusts the sticky silk on the insect, emits more and more 
of it, and winds it up in the shroud so thoroughly that it soon 
ceases to struggle. The spider then gives it its quietus with her 
poison fangs and returns repeatedly to the feast until it is sucked 
dry, when the remains are thrown out of the web. 

Courtship .—The male spiders customarily build a much less 
complicated web than the females. As a rule, too, they are much 
smaller animals with longer legs. Courtship is, for the male, a 


INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


135 


hazardous undertaking, for if the lady spider is in no mood to 
receive his advances she is very likely to seize him and make a 
meal of her would-be suitor. If she is amiable he is permitted to 
occupy her web with her. In many species of spiders the male 
approaches the female with complicated dance steps that appear 



Fig. 96.—The orb builder Argiope; another specimen in an adjacent web is 
seen indistinctly; in front of it is seen the silk shroud of a recently killed locust. 

to help ingratiate him into her favor. His antics effectively rival 
even the most assiduous efforts of the modern dancing master. 

Ballooning spiders .—In the late summer or early fall there 
come days when all the spinning spiders seem possessed of a desire 
to see the world and nothing will do but each must spin his silken 
aeroplane and sail away in quest of no one knows what. Each 
young spider, for it seems to be largely the youngsters that are 



1 3 6 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


so venturesome, mounts some pinnacle—a tall grass stalk or 
weed, a towering shrub or fence post—and there lets out of his 
spinnerets fluffy masses of silk that catch the breeze, lift him off 
his feet, and carry him, sailing, through the air. Sometimes 
the wind is too strong and it carries the silk off, as fast as it is 
spun, in a long streamer, and then all over the fields and 
shrubbery there lie these silken strands that gleam like silver in 
the morning sun. 



Fig. 97.—Wolf spider with egg cocoons; at left, cocoons of several spiders; 
at right, one of these enlarged. 


The wanderers .—Probably children will come to know the 
wandering spiders sooner than the net builders, since they are so 
common everywhere. Here belong the wolf spiders that live 
for the most part on the ground and run down their insect prey. 
The females carry their globular, silken egg sacs around with 
them wherever they go (Fig. 97). The commoner jumping 
spiders are black and gray, with very large heads. They leap 
upon their victims and can make record-breaking jumps, con¬ 
sidering their size. The most likely place to look for representa- 




INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


137 


tives of the crab spider is in the flower cluster of some such plant 
as the wild carrot, parsnip, or daisy. These are flattened animals 
with crablike legs and gait. Not all the crab spiders have the 
ambushing habit of these. They lie in wait for some insect that 
is seeking nectar, in order that they may pounce upon it while 
effectively hidden in the blossom cluster, their colors harmonizing 
with those of the flowers. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Note. —Bulletins and circulars marked with an asterisk (*) in the list are to be 
obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C., and the price 
is five cents unless otherwise specified. Many other titles can be obtained from 
the same source and a price list of all such will be sent on application. 

Farmers’ Bulletins are issued by the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, D.C. 

American Boys’ Book of Bugs, Butterflies, and Beetles. Dan Beard. Phila¬ 
delphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. $2.00. 

American Insects. V. L. Kellogg. New York: Henry Holt & Co. $4.00. 

Ants. W. M. Wheeler. New York: Columbia University Press. $5.00. 

Aquatic Insects of the Adirondacks. Needham and Betten. Bulletin No. 

47, New York State Museum. $0.45. 

*Army Worm, Fall, and Variegated Cut Worm. Bulletin No. 29, New Series, 
Bureau of Entomology. $0.05. 

*Bedbugs . Circular No. 47, Second Series, Bureau of Entomology. 

Bee Culture, The A B C and X V Z of. Medina, Ohio: The A. I. Root Co. 

Bee, The Life of the. Maurice Maeterlinck. New York: Dodd, Mead 
& Co. $1.50. 

*Bee Keeping. Frank Berton. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 59. 

*Bees. E. F. Phillips. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 447 - 

Bees, How to Keep. Anna Botsford Comstock. Ithaca, N.Y.: The 
Comstock Publishing Co. $1.00. 

* Beetles, Value of Predaceous, in Destroying Insect Pests. Yearbook Separate 
No. 583, U.S. Dept, of Agriculture. 

* Brown-tail Moth and How to Control It. L. O. Howard. Farmers’ 
Bulletin No. 264. (See Gipsy Moth.) 

Butterflies and Bees. M. W. Morley. Boston: Ginn & Co. $0.60. 

Butterflies of Eastern North America. G. H. French. Philadelphia: 
J. B. Lippincott Co. $2.00. 


138 OUR LIVING WORLD 

Butterfly and Moth Book. Ellen Robertson Miller. New York: Chas. 
Scribner and Sons. $1.50. 

Butterfly Book. W. J. Holland. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 
$4.00. 

Butterfly Guide, A Pocket Manual. W. J. Holland. New York: Double¬ 
day, Page & Co. $1.00. 

Butterfly, The Life of a. Samuel H. Scudder. New York: Henry Holt 
& Co. $1.00. 

Buzz. M. Noel. New York: Henry Holt & Co. $1.00. 

*Cabbage Bug , The Harlequin. Circular No. 10, Second Series, Bureau of 
Entomology. 

*Carpet Beetle or “Buffalo Moth.” Circular No. 5, Second Series, Bureau 
of Entomology. 

Caterpillars and Their Moths. Eliot and Soule. New York: The Century 
Co. $2.00. 

*Cicada, The Periodical. Bulletin No. 14, New Series, Bureau of Ento¬ 
mology. $0.15. 

*Cockroaches. Circular No. 51, Second Series, Bureau of Entomology. 
*Codling Moth and Apple Scabs, The Control of. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 247. 

* Cornstalk-Borer , The Large. Circular No. 16, Second Series, Bureau of 

Entomology. 

*Cotton Boll Weevil, Mexican. Bulletin No. 51, New Series, Bureau of 
Entomology. $0.15. 

* Cotton Boll Weevil, Mexican. Annotated Bibliography of. Circular No. 

140, Second Series, Bureau of Entomology. 

Dragon Flies of Illinois. Bulletin No. hi. State Laboratory of Natural 
History, Vol. VI, September, 1901. 

Dragon Flies of Indiana, in the twenty-fourth Annual Report, Indiana 
Dept, of Geology and Natural History. 

Entomology, Elementary. Sanderson and Jackson. Boston: Ginn & Co. 
$2.00. 

Fly , The Life of the. J. Henri Fabre. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co 
$1.50. 

*Gipsy Moth in America. Bulletin No. n, New Series, Bureau of Ento¬ 
mology. 

*Gipsy Moth and Brown-tail Moth , Report on. Circular No. 58, Second 
Series, Bureau of Entomology. 

*Gipsy Moth and Brown-tail Moth with Suggestions for Their Control. 
Farmers’ Bulletin No. 564. 

Gipsy Moth and How to Control It. L. O. Howard. Farmers’ Bulletin 
No. 275. 

* Hessian Fly. Circular No. 70, Second Series, Bureau of Entomology. 


INSECTS AND INSECT ALLIES 


139 


*House Flies. L. O. Howard. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 459. 

House Fly, Disease Carrier. L. O. Howard. New York: Frederick A. 
Stokes. $1.60. 

*Household Insects of the United States, Principal. Bulletin No. 4, Bureau 
of Entomology. $0.10. 

*Household Insects, Hydrocyanic Acid Gas against. Circular No. 163, 
Bureau of Entomology. 

*How Insects Affect Health in Rural Districts. L. O. Howard. Farmers’ 
Bulletin No. 155. 

Insects. Hyatt and Arms. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. $1.25. 

Insects. David Sharp. Cambridge Natural History, Vols. V and VI. 
New York: The Macmillan Co. $4.00. 

*Insects Affecting Domestic Animals. Bulletin No. 5, New Series, Bureau 
of Entomology. $0.20. 

* Insects as Carriers and Spreaders of Disease. Yearbook Separate No. 235, 
U.S. Dept, of Agriculture. 

* Insects Injurious to the Wood of Living Trees. Circular No. 126, Second 
Series, Bureau of Entomology. 

*Insects of Deciduous Fruits (Apple, Grape, Peach, Pear). Bulletin No. 68, 
Bureau of Entomology. $0.25. 

*Insects Injurious to Forest Products. Circular No. 128, Second Series, 
Bureau of Entomology. 

Insects Injurious to the Household. Glenn W. Herrick. New York: The 
Macmillan Co. $1.75. 

^Insects Injurious to the Wood of Dying Trees. Circular No. 127, Second 
Series, Bureau of Entomology. 

*Insects Injurious to the Wood of Living Trees. Circular No. 126, Second 
Series, Bureau of Entomology. 

Insects, Life Histories of American. Clarence M. Weed. New York: 
The Macmillan Co. $1.50. 

* Insects, Some, Injurious to Forests. Bulletin No. 58, Bureau of Ento¬ 
mology. $0.35. 

* Insects, Some, Injurious to Truck Crops. Bulletin No. 82, Bureau of 
Entomology. $0.30. 

* Insects, Some, Injurious to Vegetable Crops. Bulletin No. 33, New Series, 
Bureau of Entomology. $0.10. 

* Locusts, Destructive. Bulletin No. 25, Old Series, Bureau of Entomology. 
$0.15. 

*Malaria, Some Facts about. L. O. Howard. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 450. 

Manual for the Study of Insects. John H. Comstock. Ithaca, N.Y.: The 
Comstock Publishing Co. S3. 75 * 


140 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


*Maple Scale, Cottony. Circular No. 64, Second Series, Bureau of Ento¬ 
mology. 

* Mites and Lice on Poultry. Circular No. 92, Second Series, Bureau of 
Entomology. 

Mosquitoes. L. 0 . Howard. New York: McClure, Phillips & Co. $1.50. 
* Mosquitoes, Remedies and Preventatives. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 444. 

Moth Book, The. W. J. Holland. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 
$4.00. 

Nature Sketches in Temperate America. Joseph L. Hitchcock. Chicago: 
A. C. McClurg & Co. $3.00. 

*Notable Depredations by Forest Insects. Yearbook Separate No. 442, U.S. 
Dept, of Agriculture. 

*San Jose or Chinese Scale. Bulletin No. 62, New Series, Bureau of 
Entomology. $0.25. 

*San Jose Scale and Its Control. Circular No. 124, Second Series, Bureau 
of Entomology. 

*Squash Bug, The Common. Circular No. 39, Second Series, Bureau of 
Entomology. 

Spider Book, The. John H. Comstock. New York: Doubleday, Page & 
Co. $4.00. 

The Common Spiders. J. H. Emerton. Boston: Ginn & Co. $1.50. 

The Spinner Family. Alice J. Patterson. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co. 
$1.25. 


CHAPTER IV 


BIRDS 

Interest in birds.—Popular interest in the study of birds has 
recently increased very rapidly. This is in part due to the 
increasing realization of the economic importance of birds and in 
part to the eminently successful work of the National Audubon 
Association and of other similar societies. Effective new legis¬ 
lation, both state and federal, looking toward the protection of 
birds, especially the non-game sorts, reflects a public sentiment 
that is coming to be more and more appreciative of both the 
aesthetic and economic value of birds. In cities, at least, it is 
very noticeable that the parks and other likely places are now 
frequented by large numbers of amateur observers, whereas a 
few years ago the individual with a bird glass was an object of 
curiosity. In many localities it is so commonplace to find 
children acquainted with the common birds that the boy or girl 
who does not know them on sight is the exception. It has been 
the experience of many teachers in normal schools and similar 
institutions that the pupils now coming up from the grades have 
a very respectable acquaintance with the commoner forms of 
nature, including the ordinary birds. 

Beginners in bird-study —It is very interesting to note what 
different replies are given to the question, “How many different 
kinds of birds do you think there are in this region ? ” The usual 
answer of the novice is, “About twenty, ” while some student, who 
has attempted to learn the birds and has been impressed with 
their variety, is likely to go to the other extreme and reply, “Oh, 
a thousand or more.” 

To one who is beginning the study of birds the task of learning 
to recognize the birds of a region at sight seems almost hopeless. 
The same bird may be encountered in many localities and from 


142 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


many points of view and each time may appear so different that 
the student becomes discouraged. He is fortunate who has the 
help of an instructor who is so familiar with the birds that he can 
point out the distinguishing characters and so make this first 
season less difficult. If the student, working alone, knows 
surely five birds at the end of the first few weeks of bird-study 
he has accomplished much, and he will learn the next twenty-five 
with comparative ease. After that the student’s progress is so 
rapid that his enthusiasm will know no bounds. One must be 
ready to devote some little time and attention to bird-study to 
succeed. It is well to follow patiently, with the field glasses, 
some one bird until its distinguishing features are quite surely 
fixed in mind and its song and habits are moderately familiar, for 
the bird student comes to know his birds quite as much by their 
carriage, flight, idiosyncracies of behavior, and voice as by their 
conspicuous markings and size. When one bird has been learned 
well enough to make identification certain, another one can be 
added to the list. 

Helps. — The Land Birds , by Chester A. Reed, and The Water 
Birds , which together give reasonably accurate colored pictures 
of all the birds of Eastern United States and Canada, and The 
Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America , by Frank M. 
Chapman, are among the best of the bird books; the former is 
especially good for beginners in bird-study. A great many 
pamphlets and reports can be obtained from the United States 
Department of Agriculture and many of the states issue valuable 
reports. A list of some of the more important of these is given 
in the bibliography. Many of the publications can be obtained 
gratuitously through your congressman, while others are for free 
distribution by the Department of Agriculture. Some of them 
must be purchased of the Superintendent of Documents, 
Washington, D.C., from whom can be obtained, on request, a list 
with the very low prices. 

One of the most important agencies, if not the most important. 
for spreading knowledge of our birds and interest in them, 


BIRDS 


143 


especially among school children, is the Audubon Association, 
with headquarters at 1975 Broadway, New York City, and 
branches in the various states. The Association publishes a very 
superior bird magazine, Bird Lore, and many valuable pamphlets, 
and issues a number of colored pictures of the birds, together 
with descriptive leaflets and outline sketches of the commoner 
birds, the latter to be colored by the pupils. The Association will 
gladly send lists of these together with other information to any 
teacher applying to its secretary. 

Methods of bird-study.—Bird-study must largely be an 
individual matter; it is difficult to conduct class instruction, for 
as a rule the birds are shy of the noise and appearance of many 
people. If, however, a large group must make this study it is 
advisable to divide it into smaller groups, and it is about as well 
for the pupils to sit down in secluded spots and wait for the birds 
to appear as it is to walk around and try to find the birds. The 
teacher can move from group to group, helping to identify the 
birds that are reported. As an aid to observation the children 
may be provided with some sort of a blank to be filled in, such 
as the one suggested in the Field and Laboratory Guide in Bio¬ 
logical Nature Study or in the Comstock Bird Study Note Book. 

A bird calendar. —When the children are once started on their 
observation and identification of the birds, an excellent device for 
stimulating interest is a bird calendar. Decorate a large sheet of 
paper or an area of the blackboard with an attractive heading and 
below this enter the date of the first reported appearance of any 
given species, the name of the species, and the name of the child 
that first accurately reports it. The calendar may be kept running 
during the spring months when the birds are arriving, modified to 
take record of the nesting dates and appearance of the young birds, 
and again used in the fall when the birds are moving southward. 

Map of nest sites. —Another excellent device is to map the 
region in which the school is located, indicating the streets or 
roads, the houses or farms, and then to designate by red dots or 
numbers the location of the birds’ nests in which young are being 


144 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


reared. It is surprising how many birds there are nesting even in 
the residence portions of the large cities. In one block of Chicago, 
with which the author is familiar, in the spring of 1915 there were 
twenty-seven birds’ nests, including those of the brown thrasher, 
catbird, bluebird, robin, oriole, blue jay, song sparrow, red-headed 
woodpecker, flicker, screech owl, chimney swift, and house wren. 

Types of nests.—In such work the pupils will be certain to 
learn much about the varying types of construction used by the 



Fig. 98.—The woven nest of the oriole 


birds in building their nests. The swaying woven nest of the 
oriole (Fig. 98) represents nearly, if not quite, the climax of bird 
skill in housebuilding, while the woodcock often dispenses with 
any structure and lays its eggs on the bare ground (Fig. 99); 
between these extremes are all sorts of intermediate types. 
Some terns lay their eggs among the beach pebbles which they so 
much resemble that one will often step on the eggs when doing his 
best to avoid them (Fig. 100). The young terns are so nearly 
like the sand and dry seaweed of the shore that they are almost 




BIRDS 


145 




invisible until they run. The herring gull lays its eggs (Fig. 101) 
in the hollows of the bare rocks of desolate islands, gathering a 


Fig. 99.—Nest of woodcock on the ground 


Fig. ioo. —Young tern and egg on rocky shore; note that mottling of young 
harmonizes with seaweed of background. Egg is at tip of tern’s bill; similar 
objects farther to left are pebbles. 

few sticks and bits of moss about itself as it sits on the eggs, 
making thus a very primitive sort of nest. The nest of the brown 
thrasher (Fig. 102) is a very loose collection of sticks laid in some 










146 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


convenient tree crotch, where it usually goes to pieces soon alter 
the nesting season is over. Hawks, crows, herons (Fig. 103), and 



Fig. ioi.—N est of herring gull, just a few sticks 



Fig. 102.—Nest of brown thrasher 

many other birds make similar platform nests, shaping them 
more or less like a bowl. Most of the common birds line the 
nests with grass, bark fiber, thistledown, feathers pulled from 










Fig. 103.—Nest of aigrette heron 



Fig. 104.—Nest of cliff swallow (from water-color sketch) 












148 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


their own breasts, or with similar soft material. The robin 
plasters the outside of its nest with mud to make it more secure. 
The cliff swallow makes a clay jug against some rocky wall and 
within this rears its young (Fig. 104). The nest of the chimney 
swift is glued together and fastened to the bricks of the chimney 
by a secretion that the bird ejects from its mouth. The Chinese 



Fig. 105.—Nest of marsh wren, woven of marsh grass 


edible birds’ nests are so completely formed of a similar secretion 
that they may be eaten as a dainty luxury. 

Concealed nests. —The woodpecker’s nest is made from chips 
cut from the tree in excavating the hole. Kingfishers dig out a 
long tunnel in some steep, sandy bank by the stream or lake and 
the eggs are laid on the earth at the end of the tunnel with little 
pretense of a nest. The blue-gray gnat catcher and the ruby- 








BIRDS 


149 


throated humming bird cover the outside of the nest with lichens 
so that it will be inconspicuous. Some of the water birds build 
on floating masses of plant debris, each pair inhabiting an 
individual island only large enough for the isolated home. The 
marsh wren weaves a globular nest of grass (Fig. 105) with a side 
entrance and attaches it to the water weeds so that it seems just 
a bunch left by the high water. There is a philosophy of birds’ 
eggs also, for the eggs that are laid in these various nests are 
colored and spotted in a way that has significance in the survival 
of the species. As a rule birds do not use the nest a second 
season, so that nests may be gathered for the school museum 
after the birds have left them. Each should be labeled with the 
name of the bird that made it, its location, and if possible the 
dates of its beginning and completion. 

The perchers.—No attempt can be made in the limited space 
of a chapter to describe the common birds, for in most localities 
there are probably one hundred and fifty to be found during the 
year; and where the water birds are common there are even more 
than this. The student must be referred for detailed descrip¬ 
tions to some of the excellent bird books already mentioned. 
The distinguishing conspicuous features of some typical orders 
and families may be mentioned here. The best-known birds of 
fields and woods are in large measure included in an order known 
as the perchers {Passeres). Four unwebbed toes spring from a 
common point, three turning forward and one backward to form 
a foot that is well adapted for clasping twigs or other perches. 
This order is broken up into a number of families, each of which 
includes closely related birds. 

The thrush family .—This includes the robin, the bluebird, and 
a number of other thrushes. Most people are not aware that the 
robin is the red-breasted thrush (Fig. 106). The real robin 
belongs to the Old World, is smaller than our American bird, and 
has a more varied song. When our Pilgrim forefathers came to 
America they dubbed this red-breasted thrush the robin, since 
he did have the bright breast of their beloved English bird. 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


15 ° 

Most of the thrushes have mottled breasts, similar to that of the 
young robin, but not all birds with spotted breasts belong in this 
family: the brown thrasher, the ovenbird, and the fox sparrow, 



Fig. 106.—Robin at nest feeding young, and young in nest (after Finley) 


each with this character, belong to three different families. The 
bluebird is more properly known as the blue-backed thrush. 
The other thrushes will be known as “ wandering voices ” far 
away in the gloom of the woods long before they are recognized 
by sight. This thrush family includes our finest bird songsters, 




BIRDS 


151 



Fig. 107.—The golden- 
crowned kinglet. 


the hermit and the wood thrushes; their notes have the clear 
tones of the flute with the softness of distant bells; their songs 
are indescribable, quite long, wildly varied—inspired rhapsodies 
full of the inexpressible suggestions of 
the wilderness. 

Some tree protectors .— The kinglet 
family includes the golden - crowned 
(Fig. 107) and ruby-crowned kinglets. 

They are tiny birds, about four inches 
long, olive green in color, with the under 
parts lighter; the golden crown has a 
streak of yellow bordered by black on 
the top of the head, whereas the ruby- 
crowned has a patch of ruby red, which, 
however, is conspicuous only when the animal raises the feathers 
of the crest. The songs are warbles, that of the ruby-crowned 
being remarkably full and clear for so 
small a bird. In early spring these 
little birds will be found carefully going 
over the twigs of the trees, hunting for 
insect eggs and larvae. If the woods 
are mixed conifers and deciduous trees, 

1 ——I , , they are more likely to be seen on the 

f V ‘ I t conifers. 

JI 1 J A'fwMMm There are several other families that 

include small birds of like habits. To 
the titmouse family belongs the chicka¬ 
dee (Fig. 108), that animated bunch of 
black and gray that so accommodatingly 
tells you his name. Another family is 
represented by the red-breasted and 
white-breasted nuthatches (Fig. 109), 
whose acrobatic performances on twigs and tree trunks are very 
entertaining. The brown creeper («creeper family) (Fig. no) 
also searches the bark crannies for his food. His bill is curved, 



Fig. 108.—The chickadee 



152 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the better to explore hidden crevices, while his sharp stiff tail 
feathers serve as props against the bark. All these birds are 
exceedingly valuable allies of man. 

The wood warblers are a family peculiar to America (Fig. in). 
They are small birds with slender bills. Their ground color is 
predominantly green, but this is ornamented with bright orange, 
yellow, red, or blue. The average person is very much surprised 
to find that here in the northern states we have such tropically 



Fig. 109.—Red-breasted nuthatch 


colored birds. They live largely in the tree tops and are exceed¬ 
ingly active, flitting from branch to branch or running over the 
twigs and bark for the insects on which they feed; they are 
undoubtedly among the most useful of our birds. Two of the 
family, the ovenbird and the water thrush, have quite dissimilar 
habits and feed largely on the ground or low shrubs. 

The wren family includes the saucy, voluble house wren, the 
marsh wren, the winter wren. All are small, brownish birds with 
jauntily turned-up tails which give them an impertinent air. 




BIRDS 


153 


The mocking-bird family closely related to the wrens, is repre¬ 
sented in the North by the catbird and the brown thrasher 
(Fig. 112). Both of these birds are excellent mimics, with a reper¬ 
toire of songs that includes the calls of many of. the common 
birds, together with some notes 
distinctively their own. 

The shrikes or butcher birds 
(shrike family) have hawklike 
bills and somewhat hawklike 
habits. They hang up surplus 
provisions, insects, and small 
rodents on thorns or even on 
barbs of wire fences. The 
birds of the swallow family 
have short, flat bills, large 
mouths (Fig. 113), and very 
long wings, with correspond¬ 
ingly small feet. They fly 
incessantly, capturing insects 
on the wing. Tree, bank, 
barn, and cliff swallows, and 
the purple martin all belong 
to this group. 

The sparrows .—The finch 
family is a large one, embra¬ 
cing all those birds with heavy 
bills fitted for crushing seeds 
(Fig. 114); here belong the finches, grosbeaks, and sparrows. 
The best-known sparrow is that street gamin and tyrant of the 
back yard, the pesky English sparrow that drives away our 
valuable native songsters with his pugnacious aggressiveness and 
stays to clutter our porches and distract us with his incessant 
cackle. Because he is so objectionable the whole sparrow tribe 
has a bad reputation among those who do not know birds inti¬ 
mately. This is quite unjust, for there are many charming birds 



Fig. no.—The brown creeper 









154 OUR LIVING WORLD 

in the group. The tanager family is represented by that beauti¬ 
ful flame of the forest, the scarlet tanager, a bird that is a close 
relative of the sparrows and finches. 


Fig. hi. —Black-throated green warbler 


The blackbird family is also a numerous one; meadow larks, 
bobolinks, blackbirds, and grackles are all included in it. In all 
these the base of the bill runs up to the forehead, parting the 


Fig. i i 2.—The brown thrasher 





BIRDS 


*55 



Fig. i 13.—Head of barn swallow; 
note the tremendous gape of mouth. 


feathers and so forming a characteristic feature. In early spring 
they are all insectivorous; the blackbirds feed on the dragon-fly 
larvae captured in the ponds, the cowbirds on the insects scared 
up by the feeding cattle, the bobolinks gorge on caterpillars, and 
the meadow larks and grackles on beetles. In the fall and winter 
grain forms a conspicuous part of the diet, and if other food is 
not abundant sprouting grain 
may suffer in the spring. The 
polygamous cowbird shirks the 
responsibility of maternity and 
lays her eggs in the nests of 
smaller birds. Her rapidly 
growing young soon crowd out 
the smaller fledglings and keep 
the little foster-parents busy gathering food for their ravenous 
interlopers. However, in spring, one can hardly help welcom¬ 
ing the gay roving bands of all these black rascals, when their 
tinkling, gurgling notes, though harsh, are pleasant after the 
hushed winter days. 

The crow family is so named after its most conspicuous and 
noisiest member, though the closely related blue jay is almost a 
rival. The family has a bad reputation 
for thievery, and the nests of other birds 
do suffer seriously from their depreda¬ 
tions : both eggs and young form a reg¬ 
ular part of the dietary of these birds, 
especially the crow. We humans have 
very little right to criticize when 
“broilers” form so constant a part of’ 
our diet. 

Birds of the flycatcher family have broad, slightly hooked 
bills with bristles at the base. The feathers are gray tinged with 
green. The feeding habits mark these birds most readily. From 
a perch on some lookout—a telephone pole, or the topmost branch 
of a tree—they dart or swoop upon their prey and then return to 
watch for the next victim. 



Fig. 114.—Head of the 
towhee. 


156 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Other orders.—In addition to the order that includes the 
perching birds, there are several other orders of well-known birds. 
One includes the chimney sweeps and hum¬ 
ming birds. The woodpeckers, with their 
sharp, chisel-like bills, stiff, pointed tail 
feathers, stout feet, and tree-climbing 
habits, constitute another. The familiar 
hawks and the less well-known owls and 
vultures belong to the order of robbers 
{Raptores). They all have hooked beaks, 
strong talons, and are birds of prey, feeding largely on rats, 
field mice, snakes, or on animal refuse. They are usually 

seen in flight and must be 
recognized on the wing. 
The wing of both hawk and 
vulture is long and presents 
a large surface to the air 
currents, so that they soar 
with ease; it requires con¬ 
siderable time for such 
birds to get under way. 
Birds like the quail or 
grouse, with relatively 
small but broad wings, be¬ 
gin their flight with almost 
as great speed as they can 
later attain. 

Domestic stock .—The pigeons and doves are marked by a 
peculiar soft membrane at the base of the bill, the cere (Fig. 115). 
Finally, among the land birds, there is the order of scratchers, 
represented by the quail, the grouse, and the turkey. Their bills 
are stout, as are also their feet; the hind toe is elevated so that it 
does not rest upon the ground. These two orders, the Columbae 
and the Gallinae, include birds that have been domesticated by 
man; they embrace, together with the Anseres (the ducks and 





Fig. 11 6 . —The spotted sandpiper (after 
Forbush). 



pigeon. 





BIRDS 


157 


geese), the birds that man has most depended on for food. The 
domestic chicken belongs to the scratchers, although it is not a 
native of America. 

Water birds.—The foregoing orders are all land birds; several 
orders of birds are made up of those that live along the water¬ 
ways or upon the water. The snipe order contains a lot of long- 
legged wading birds, usually with slender bills, whose calls are 



Fig. 117. —The American bittern 


piping whistles, uttered commonly during flight. The common 
snipe and the sandpipers, as well as the plovers, with several 
groups of seashore birds, belong in this order (Fig. 116). 

The crane order is also made up of long-legged, long-necked 
birds, embracing in the North, besides the cranes, the rails, the 
gallinules, and the coots. In flight these all keep the neck 
extended, a characteristic which distinguishes them from the 
familiar representatives of the heron order, which fly with a fold 





OUR LIVING WORLD 


158 

in the neck. The heron order includes the common herons, 
bitterns (Fig. 117), and the less well-known storks and ibises. 

All these birds with stiltlike legs have long necks of necessity, 
else they could not reach down to the ground for their food. 
Many of them are waders (Fig. 118), feeding in the ponds or 
streams, and some have long beaks for probing in the mud. The 
rails, gallinules, and coots have very long toes; they feed in the 

toes gives them footing even 
where the ground is very 
soft. The coot’s toes are 
partly webbed so that it 
swims with ease. 

The geese and their allies .— 
The Anseres is the name of 
the order that includes the 
ducks, geese, and swans. 
The trumpeter swan, with a 
length of sixty-five inches, is 
our largest migrant bird, rare 
now, since it is such a tempt¬ 
ing target for the gun. All 
of these birds have webbed 
feet and, with the exception 
of the merganser ducks, 
margins (Fig. 119); the mer¬ 
gansers have round bills with toothed margins, the better to hold 
the fish on which they feed. 

Gulls and terns make up an order that is marked by the long, 
pointed wing, adapted to soaring flight, and by the hooked bill 
and strong talons. The toes are webbed. 

The grebe order comprises the loons, grebes, and some related 
sea birds. Their webbed feet are set back near the hind end of 
the tailless or nearly tailless body. In this position they are of 
maximum service in swimming, but the bird’s movements on land 
are very awkward. 


marshes and the wide-spreading 



Fig. 118.—Least bittern watching for fish 
broad bills with ridges along the 





BIRDS 


I 59 



Fig. i 19.—Head of black duck 


Structural adaptation.—Perhaps nowhere else in the animal 
world do we find a better illustration of the nice adjustment of 
the parts of an animal to the requirements of its environment 
than we do among the birds. Take, for instance, the form of 
the bill. The duck’s bill is broad 
and shovel-like, except among the 
fishing ducks, and the edges are 
corrugated, serving to form a sieve 
when upper and lower mandibles 
are close together. The ducks feed 
by taking up mouthfuls of mud, 
which they eject together with the 
water through this convenient sieve 
and so strain out the small animals 
and plants that serve as food. The 
hawks have strong bills, the upper 
mandible of which is curved like a hook and serves to capture 
and tear up the prey (Fig. 120). The woodpecker has a narrow, 
chisel-like bill that is an effective tool in cutting out his nest hole 
as well as in excavating the tree trunk for grubs. When the 
bird has partly cut its way to some wood-boring larva, the 

tongue is thrust down the bur¬ 
row of the grub and the victim 
pulled from the hole. For this 
service the tongue of the wood¬ 
pecker is long and slender and 
barbed, much like a fishhook 
(Fig. 121). Grosbeaks and spar¬ 
rows, which usually live on seeds, 
have heavy beaks for crushing 
the hard seed coats. The woodcock has a long, slender bill for 
probing into the soft mud, where it finds its food (Fig. 122). 
His eyes are located well back on the head, where they are out 
of the way when the bill is thrust way down to the snout. The 
tip of the bill is movable and sensitive so that it may circle 



Fig. i 20.—Head of sparrow hawk 



i6o 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


about like a finger, feeling for the imbedded animals. These 
common types are but a few of those that will be found in any 
extensive collection of birds. 

Birds’ feet .—No less remarkable are the feet of birds. The 
grebes have toes that are webbed individually. The duck’s toes 
have a common web that unites them 
and makes the feet very effective 
paddles. Most woodpeckers have two 
toes pointing forward and two back¬ 
ward, for the weight must be sustained 
on the bark of the trees and such an 
arrangement gives them a more pow¬ 
erful grip. The hawks, eagles, and 
owls have strong, clawed toes or talons 
for firmly holding their prey. Such a 
bird as the Florida gallinule has a 
relatively large foot (Fig. 123), since it lives in the marshes 
where it needs wide expanse of foot to keep it from sinking into 
the soft mud just as a man wears snow shoes to keep from going 
deep into the snow at every step. In the ostrich the foot 
has become calloused, like the hoof of a horse, so that it may 
run with ease over the hard 
ground. 

The wing of the bird .— 

Examine carefully a bird’s 
wing, like that of a duck or 
chicken. Notice its several 
joints and compare them 
with your own arm. The wing is covered with several types 
of feathers; the very long primaries, the shorter secondaries, and 
still shorter feathers. Examine a primary feather (Fig. 124); 
notice its central shaft ending in the quill. On either side of 
the shaft there is a web of material made up of barbs fastened 
together by interlocked hooks. Notice how light and yet how 
strong this web is. Observe, too, that the shaft is not at the 



Fig. 122.—Head of woodcock 




BIRDS 


161 



very center of the vane, but is much nearer one margin than 
the other. 

As you watch the bird taking flight the process seems a very 
simple one. The expanded wings beat down on the air, resume 
their initial position, and again strike the air, and so the bird is 
lifted off the ground. On 
second thought one won¬ 
ders why the upward move¬ 
ment of the wing does not 
counterbalance the down- 
stroke. It is true the 
downstroke is rapid and 
forceful, but the upstroke is of longer duration if not quite so 
vigorous. If the wing is examined carefully, the matter is ex¬ 
plained by the difference in form of the upper and the under 
sides of the wing, and also by the arrangement of the feathers, 
which permits the air to go through the wing on the upstroke 
but not on the downstroke. Find out from the wing itself how 
this is accomplished. 

The body feathers .—The body of the bird is covered with soft 
feathers quite unlike the stiff wing feathers used in flight. These 


Fig. 123.—Foot of Florida gallinule 



Fig. 124.—Primary feather from wing of herring gull 

body feathers are not distributed evenly, but grow only on certain 
parts, leaving large portions of the skin without feathers, as can 
be easily seen when a chicken is plucked; nevertheless the 
feathers overlap these bare areas so that the bird is kept warm 
and dry. That the bird’s coat of feathers is effective in keeping 
it warm is evident when such tiny birds as the chickadee can 
endure the rigors of a Canadian winter. Man has always been 








i 62 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


appreciative of the birds’ soft coats, and many thousands of 
swans’ skins besides tons of down have gone into winter gar¬ 
ments; indeed, such birds as the eider duck and the trumpeter 
swan have largely disappeared because their feathers were so 
highly prized. Unfortunately, too, many of the birds possess 
feathers, such as the aigrettes, that are much desired as ornaments 
for hats or gowns that it has led to the merciless slaughter of their 
possessors. The trade in and use of such vestiges of savagery is 
wisely restricted by law and will disappear entirely when the 
public has fully learned how valuable the birds really are. 

One wonders how a duck can sit for hours on the water and 
not get wet. At the base of the tail is an oil gland, the opening 
of which is on a projecting papilla readily seen on a plucked 
chicken; the bird sticks its bill down to this opening and smears 
it with oil which it then rubs on its feathers. The process is 
called preening. After thus waterproofing their thick coats birds 
may stay out in the rain to feed and still keep dry, or they may 
swim in the water and not get wet. 

Bird thieves.—Certain birds have odious reputations; the 
crows and blackbirds are accused of eating much corn, and even 
bobwhite is suspected of taking large toll of the sprouting grain; 
the redwing and bobolink are said to pilfer the southern rice fields; 
the kingbird is thought to feed on honey bees; and all hawks and 
owls are held in enmity by the farmer as robbers of the chicken 
yard. But government experts, examining the stomachs of birds 
at all seasons, have found no sprouted grain in bob white’s diet; 
they do find grain which has been gleaned among the stubble. 
The crow does pull and eat sprouting grain and does feed 
regularly on birds’ eggs and nestlings, but likely even he more 
than compensates by the injurious insects he eats (Fig. 125). 
The blue jay eats corn, too, but not from early May until after 
harvest time; out of two hundred and ninety-two blue jays’ 
stomachs examined only five showed traces of young birds or 
eggs. The blackbirds, as a rule, eat grain only in the late fall, 
unless they multiply so greatly as to find their usual sources of 






Food entirely insects, as is 
also that of the nestling 



Fig. 125.—Food chart, showing proportions of foods in diet of some common 
birds. 












164 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


food inadequate. The kingbird, or bee martin, does eat bees, 
but they are almost entirely the useless drones. The bobolink 
is really a serious menace to the rice fields of the South, for, 
together with the redwing, they cause an annual loss estimated 
at about two million dollars. One grower reports using a 
hundred kegs of powder and from thirty to fifty kegs of shot each 
September in an attempt to protect his fields; even then, he 
thinks, the birds destroy one-fourth to one-third of the crop in 
his region (Beal, Food of Bobolinks , Blackbirds , and Grackles). 

Cooper’s hawk and the sharp-shinned hawk do eat chickens 
and the great horned owl will occasionally steal poultry; the 
pigeon hawk and sometimes the barred owl feed on small birds. 
But with these exceptions the hawks and owls are very beneficial; 
from the twenty-seven hundred stomachs collected in all parts 
of the country, the government experts found that four-fifths 
of their food was made up of injurious mice and other rodents, 
insects, and frogs. The chicken thief should be shot when 
caught in the act, but to shoot all hawks and owls on sight is to 
kill off some of the most valuable of the farmers’ aids. 

Ravages of insects.—Professor D. B. Walsh, then editor of 
the American Entomologist , estimated, in 1868, that the country 
suffered a loss of three hundred million dollars each year from the 
depredations of insects; this loss was considerably over 10 per 
cent of the value of the agricultural products at that time. In 
the report of the Department of Agriculture for 1884 the losses 
are estimated at from three hundred to four hundred million 
dollars annually. C. B. Riley, the expert entomologist of the 
government, estimated the loss at about one-tenth of the entire 
agricultural crop, and Dr. Fletcher, president of the Society of 
Economic Entomologists, confirmed this estimate a year later. 
The United States Department of Agriculture in 1904 stated the 
loss as $795,100,000. All these figures indicate that it is con¬ 
servative to estimate the loss due to insects at one-tenth of our 
agricultural production. Our farm crops last year ran something 
over thirteen billion dollars, which would mean that over a 


BIRDS 


i 65 

billion dollars’ worth of produce disappeared down the throats of 
voracious insects—a tidy sum that we might well afford to save 
if possible. 

Dr. C. R. Marlatt, of the Bureau of Entomology of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, estimated that the loss on the 
wheat crop of 1904, due to a single insect, the Hessian fly, was 
about one hundred million dollars. Equally great losses are 
suffered annually, according to Dr. Shymer and Dr. Riley, by 
the ravages of the chinch bug, which largely injures wheat and 
corn. It was estimated that the Rocky Mountain locust, in the 
years of its greatest abundance (1874-77), took a toll of two 
hundred million dollars from the great corn-raising states just 
west of the Mississippi. 

Rate of insect multiplication .—The rate of insect propagation 
is almost inconceivable. Townsend Glover, United States 
entomologist, estimated that a pair of Colorado potato beetles, 
if allowed to go on without molestation, would give rise in one 
season to over sixty million progeny. C. F. Hodge estimates 
that one female fly, starting to breed in May, will give rise to 
143,875 bushels of flies by the first of August if uninterrupted. 
Probably the insect with greatest reproductive capacity is the 
little plant louse or aphid. United States Entomologist Riley, 
in his study of the aphid that attacks the hop, finds that there 
are thirteen generations in one season. Allowing a hundred 
young to a female, and this is a very conservative allowance, the 
twelfth generation from the first female would contain ten 
^extillions of aphids, provided, of course, that none of the progeny 
had died before reproducing. If these were placed ten to an 
inch the line would reach out beyond the farthest star visible to a 
powerful telescope, reaching a point from which it would take 
light twenty-five hundred years to come back to the earth, 
traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. 

Birds our defenders.—From such almost limitless rates of 
reproduction and the consequent plagues of insect pests the 
birds are our chief deliverers. Mr. Mosher, a careful observer 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


166 

in the Middlesex Falls Reservation of Massachusetts, watched, 
with a good field glass, a pair of northern yellowthroats, warblers, 
eating plant lice on the birches. One of them swallowed 89 
aphids in a minute and continued eating for forty minutes 
without stopping, which would mean that something over 7,000 
plant lice had disappeared in that time. A scarlet tanager made 
away with 630 gypsy-moth caterpillars in eighteen minutes. A 
nighthawk’s stomach contained over 500 mosquitoes. Forbush 
reports finding 1,028 eggs of the fall cankerworm in the crops of 
four chickadees in Massachusetts and later found four of the same 
kind of birds that had eaten an average of 21 female cankerworm 
moths, each containing 185 eggs. Sanderson estimated that 
chickadees alone annually eat 8,000,000,000 insects in Michigan. 
Bruner (,Special Bulletin No. j, University of Nebraska) estimates 
that it takes 15,625 bushels of insects, daily , to feed the birds of 
that state. Reed estimates that the birds of Massachusetts 
destroy 21,000 bushels, or 170 carloads, daily, from May to 
September. 

Young birds heavy feeders .—Even those birds that feed 
mostly on seeds feed their young largely on insects and other 
animal food; and the young require enormous quantities, for 
young birds grow very rapidly. Mr. Owen, watching a nest of 
song sparrows, found that five young increased, on an average, 
48 per cent in a single day. Weed and Dearborn found that 
young robins eat daily about half of their own weight of food, and 
one case is on record in which the young bird ate nearly twice its 
weight of earthworms and cutworms. Crows have also been 
found to eat about half their weight of food each day while 
growing. 

The adult birds are therefore kept busy all day long bringing 
insect food to the fledglings. Dr. Judd, in Bulletin No. 17, 
United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Biological 
Survey, says that a nest of young wrens about three-fourths 
grown was visited by the parents a hundred and ten times in 
four hours and thirty-seven minutes and was fed during this time 


BIRDS 


167 


a hundred and eleven spiders and insects. A pair of rose¬ 
breasted grosbeaks was watched by Mr. Mosher in June, 1899. 
The young were visited four hundred and twenty-six times in 
eleven hours, and on no trip did the parent bird bring less than 
two insects or caterpillars. The feeding of a nest of grackles was 
reported in the Nature Study Review for April, 1915. There were 
four young birds in the nest to which the parents made sixty-one 
trips during twelve hours and each time fed an insect of 
good size, mostly June beetles and white grubs. In the same 
journal (September, 1912) data are given regarding a nest of 
fledgling song sparrows which were under observation for a day. 
They were fed by the parents on noxious insects and their larvae 
at intervals, on the average, of three minutes, from 4:05 a.m. to 
7; 23 p.m., during which time they gained 10 per cent in weight. 
Mr. Charles reported, as the result of watching a robin’s nest 
for five days, that the parents fed the young a daily average of 
three hundred and fifty-six pieces of food, mostly insects and 
their larvae (.Nature Study Review , May, 1910). 

Birds eat weed seeds .—The farmers’ crops are endangered not 
only by insects but also by the weeds that sap much of the 
vitality that should go to the growing crops. A great deal of 
the farmer’s time is required to keep weeds in subjugation, and 
the birds are his most important allies; for the' seed-eating 
birds, notably the sparrows and their kin, consume enormous 
quantities of weed seed. 

F. E. Beale made a careful survey of the weed-destroying 
powers of the tree sparrow in the state of Iowa. He first walked 
over sample areas in various parts of the state to determine the 
number of birds per acre. He shot enough of the birds to 
obtain a safe average of the weight of seed contained in a bird’s 
crop. Knowing the area of the state in acres, and having found 
the average number of tree sparrows per acre, he estimated the 
tree sparrow population of the state. He knew also the weight 
of weed seed eaten daily by the sparrow. Knowing the time 
when they usually arrive in the state in the fall and when they 


i68 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


migrate north in the spring, Mr. Beale finally came to the con¬ 
clusion that during their winter sojourn this single species of bird 
ate about 875 tons of weed seed. 

Judd tells us in his bulletin on Birds as Weed Destroyers that 
he found 7,500 seeds of oxalis in the crop of one mourning dove. 
He further tells of examining a patch of smartweed on a Maryland 
farm where the sparrows had been feeding. On eighteen square 
inches of ground he picked up 1,130 half-seeds from which the 
birds had taken the meat, and only 2 entire seeds. More than 
100 pigweed seeds were found in the stomach of a snow bunting. 
A bob white was found to have eaten over 5,000 seeds of pigeon 
grass; another had eaten 1,000 fruits of ragweed; yet another had 
in his crop over 10,000 seeds of the pigweed, one of the worst 
farm pests. It is estimated that bobwhite destroys annually 
573 tons of weed seed in Virginia alone besides tons of noxious 
insects. 

Bird migration.—One of the most interesting and instructive 
phenomena of bird fife is the annual migration. That the few 
birds living about us in the winter time are largely replaced with 
different sorts that come in from the south as spring approaches 
is a fact with which everyone is more or less familiar. We all 
watch with delightful anticipation for the appearance of the 
first robin or the bubbling song of the bobolink. The migration 
of the birds has long been noted. Jeremiah wrote: “The stork 
in the heaven knoweth her appointed times: and the turtle and 
the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming.” 
The earliest naturalists knew that the birds fly away in the fall 
and reappear in the spring, but they thought that they flew off 
to the moon or buried themselves in the mud, as the frogs do, for 
their winter hibernation. And with all the study that has been 
put upon it recently we do not yet know where some of the birds, 
such as the common chimney swift, the bank, and the cliff 
swallow, spend the winter. 

Four groups .—We may group the birds into four classes on 
the basis of migration characteristics: (1) Those species that 


BIRDS 


169 


stay with us the year around. Probably, however, the individ¬ 
uals of the species that are with us during the winter are not 
those that are present in the summer. For instance, in many 
cases the blue jays that are feeding in our neighborhood during 
the winter move north to nest while other blue jays from the 
south come to our region to nest. (2) There are the winter 
visitors, those that nest considerably farther north but come as 
far south as our latitude to feed during the winter. (3) There 
are the summer residents, the birds that nest here but go farther 
south to spend the winter. (4) The migrants, birds that nest 
to the north of us and merely pass by as they go south in the fall 
and back north in the spring. 

Number migrating .—The recently completed survey of the 
bird population made by the Department of Agriculture gives 
the average number of birds in the farming regions of the United 
States as one pair per acre; a similar survey of Illinois makes the 
average two per acre. While this does not seem at all a dense 
population, yet it foots up a tremendously large number of birds 
and is considerably more dense than the human population. 
Langley estimates that if the bird army that goes north in the 
spring were composed of individuals as large as a sparrow, and if 
these should stand in single line, shoulder to shoulder, the line 
would reach around the earth a hundred and sixty-five times. 
Cook relates that the Lapland longspurs met, in their northern 
migration, a very severe storm of soft snow which killed numbers 
of them. He estimated that seven hundred and fifty thousand 
of them were scattered, dead, over the surfaces of two small lakes, 
neither more than a mile in area. In New Jersey, Chapman, 
using a six-and-a-half-inch telescope, saw two hundred and sixty- 
two birds cross the face of the moon one night in September. 
Realizing how small a portion of the sky is occupied by the moon, 
one gets some notion of the large number of birds that must have 
been flying, if the rest of the heavens were as well occupied by 
migrant birds as the region immediately in line with the moon. 
Cook records an observation made on the shores of Lake Huron 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


170 

when migrant birds were caught by a severe storm on the night 
of October 10, 1906; the next morning dead birds, averaging 
five thousand to the mile, were strewn along the shore for many 
miles. 

Extent and rate of migration .—The distance covered in migra¬ 
tion varies greatly with different species. Some birds, such as 
the pine warbler and the robin, simply move into the southern 
part of their nesting areas, while, on the other hand, some of the 
birds that nest well within the arctic circle fly down to the 
southern portion of South America for the winter, approximately 
a fourth of the way around the world (Fig. 126). The pintail 
and the shoveler ducks, nesting in the islands of the Behring Sea, 
spend the winter in the Hawaiian Islands, about twenty-two 
hundred miles farther south. Our familiar bobolink winters in 
the center of South America. The kingbird, that nests as far 
north as British Columbia, goes as far south as Bolivia for the 
winter. Even such tiny birds as the warblers make long flights; 
the Canadian (Fig. 127) and yellow warblers, neither much over 
five inches in length, nest well to the north, the latter even 
reaching the shores of Hudson Bay, yet they winter in the tropics, 
migrating from three to seven thousand miles each fall and 
spring. The birds have rightly been called our greatest travelers, 
for no other species of animal migrates as extensively or as 
regularly. 

The rate of migration is not very rapid. Care must be taken 
to distinguish between the rate of migration and the rate of 
flight: the passenger pigeon makes from thirty to fifty-five miles 
an hour, but on long flights seventy-five miles a day is a good rate. 
Some of the birds are said to produce bursts of speed up to two 
hundred miles an hour, but the data collected by the Department 
of Agriculture give the record of the migration of nearly sixty 
species in the Mississippi Valley, and the average rate per day 
is twenty-three miles: the robin and the cowbird made twelve 
miles a day, the ruby-throated humming bird twenty-eight 
miles. It is interesting to note that as the nesting grounds are 


BIRDS 


171 

approached the rate increases; thus the blackpoll warbler 
averaged thirty miles per day from New Orleans to southern 
Minnesota, then finished the flight to the nesting site at the rate 
of two hundred miles a day, a sprint on the home stretch. 



region, dotted area the winter home. The journey south and the, return are by 
different routes. 


















































172 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Routes of migration .—While the route of migration sometimes 
follows conspicuous physiographic features, such as the coast 























































BIRDS 


173 


earth they get a bird’s-eye view of the country and can follow 
conspicuous landmarks with ease. That they have, however, 
besides sight some other means of guidance in their migration is 
evident from the feat of the pintail and shoveler ducks already 
mentioned. From the time these animals leave the Aleutian 
Islands until they arrive in the Hawaiian Islands they have no 
landmarks to guide them, but they fly straight over the two 
thousand miles of open ocean without stop. 

The golden plover accomplishes another long flight. It nests 
north of the arctic circle during June and July. In August it 
moves to Labrador, there feeding and fattening on what are 
known as crowberries. By early September it has moved on to 
southern Nova Scotia, and then without stop it wings its way 
straight across the Atlantic to the coast of South America, 
arriving in southern Brazil and the La Plata plains by mid- 
September. The return route is an inland one. Flying across 
the forests of the Amazon Valley it appears in Central America 
in March; thence by way of Texas and the Mississippi Valley 
and across Canada it reaches the nesting grounds (Fig. 126). 

Our common bobolink flocks in the fall, and then all these 
flocks migrate to the coastal plains of the Carolinas, where they 
feed on the rice (Fig. 128). Formerly they fed on the wild rice, 
but now they seem to prefer the cultivated variety. Later they 
move on to Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, and so to the valley of the 
Amazon, where they spend the winter. A part of the horde, 
however, take the more customary route of North American 
birds, flying from the Gulf Coast near the mouth of the Mississippi 
across to Yucatan and down through the Isthmus. In addition 
to these routes taken by the bobolinks, two others at least are 
followed by many birds: one, along the western coast of the Gulf 
and so through Central America (Fig. 127); the other, by way 
of Florida and the Greater and Lesser Antilles. 

It is exceedingly difficult to explain these varied and indirect 
routes. The European quails cross the Mediterranean at its 
widest part and are so exhausted when they alight in Italy that 


174 OUR LIVING WORLD 


the peasants pick them up with ease and then fatten them for 
food. The route which they follow, while over the widest stretch 
of sea, is also over the shallowest part of the Mediterranean, a 



Fig. 128. Migration routes of the bobolink: small circles show nesting region 
dotted area the winter home. The birds go south and return by the same general 
routes. 



























































BIRDS 


175 


region that in all probability has been above the ocean in 
relatively recent geological time. 

Time of migration .—The different species of birds migrate at 
quite different times; some come early, and their young are 
matured before others arrive and begin their nesting. Some of 
the birds depart for the south in August, while others linger until 
apparently driven out by the inclement winter weather. Ordi¬ 
narily the arrival of the birds is delayed by bad weather and 
hastened by especially warm weather, though on the whole they 
strike an average date and often come even though the weather 
at the time seems particularly unpropitious. Thus George M. 
Neese, of Newmarket, Virginia, gives the dates for the arrival 
of the chimney swifts from 1884 to 1906, and the extreme dates 
during this time were April 7 and April 21, but during twelve of 
these years the arrival was either on April 14, 15, or 16. 

Night travel customary .—The migration is by night except 
with those birds that are perpetually on the wing and are there¬ 
fore strong fliers, or else with birds that are so pugnacious as to 
be abundantly able to take care of themselves even when exposed 
to the dangers of daylight travel. Warm, clear nights are 
selected for the flights. A season of cloudy weather with stiff 
north winds will hold back the wave of migration so that the 
woods and fields will be full of recent arrivals; then when there 
comes a clear warm night the whole bird population will depart, 
leaving the woods deserted. I have stood in the evergreen woods 
of northern Michigan early on a warm morning in May and have 
seen wave after wave of migrants arrive. The woods would 
be alive with half a dozen different kinds of warblers; then all 
would fly on and quiet would reign supreme, until in the distance 
the notes of another on-coming flock would be heard; soon the 
woods would be swarming again with hosts of these little bril¬ 
liantly colored feathered travelers. 

Causes of migration .—The causes of migration are by no 
means clear. It is not caused by cold weather, for many of the 
birds start south in August when we are having our hottest days. 


176 


OUR LIVING WORLD 

It is not caused by lack of food, for in the spring especially the 
birds leave a land of plenty and move where insect life, -at least, 
is relatively scarce. Not infrequently the entire species gathers 
in a single spot: the Ipswich sparrow nests, so far as is known, 
only on one island at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, and 
the pelicans congregate along the Brown River in Florida. 

The two chief theories concerning bird migration are: First, 
that the birds lived originally in tropical regions and moved out 
from this territory at nesting time, as they increased in numbers, 
because food for the young and room were both at a premium. 
The second theory supposes that the birds were at one time 
widely distributed over nearly all the world. The on-coming of 
the more rigorous winters as the glacial period approached may 
have forced the birds south during the winter, while the warmer 
springs permitted them to go back again to nest in the neigh¬ 
borhood of their original homes. A third theory has recently 
been suggested, that migration is a phenomenon accompanying 
changing light conditions, the birds moving into the regions that 
have the largest amount of daylight. 

A schoolroom device—An interesting schoolroom device for 
the study of migration, one that also brings into play the study 
of geography and English, is as follows: Along in January ask the 
children to write to friends or relatives throughout the Eastern 
United States and Canada asking them to be on the watch 
for some well-known bird like the robin and to report the date 
of its arrival. The letter may state that the class is studying 
the migration of the birds, and that these reports are all going to 
be put on the blackboard in the schoolroom. On the board at 
some place that is not much used, or else on a large sheet of 
paper, say four feet square, have drawn a map of Eastern North 
America. Reports from points in the South will come in saying 
that the robin (if that is the bird selected) regularly stays all 
winter. In this way pupils will be able to map that part of the 
United States in which the robin is a winter resident. Mark all 
such places with red dots. As the northward migration proceeds 


BIRDS 


177 


the reports will begin to arrive from the children’s friends. Thus 
Mary comes to school with a letter that she has received from 
her cousin in Maryland reporting that the first robin was seen 
there on February 26; John comes to school a few days later with 
a letter from his brother in southern Wisconsin saying that the 
robin was seen there March 9. Have the children locate on the 
map the town from which each report is received and also register 
the date of the arrival of the bird at that point. The continued 
approach of the wave of migrating robins will heighten the 
anticipation of the children as they await their appearance. 
After the birds have been reported in the home town, reports 
will still come in from the friends farther north and it may be 
possible to determine the northern limit of the robin’s migration. 

Values of bird-study.—It is evident that bird-study has large 
educational value. It is excellent sensory drill; form, color, 
and markings are all varied, and to distinguish them requires 
nice discrimination. No other field of outdoor study offers such 
good training of the ear as the study of bird music; to learn to 
recognize the birds by their calls and songs makes the hearing 
keen, and to learn to reproduce them requires much patience and 
develops a memory for sounds. It is a source of much pleasure 
to be able to call the birds; many, like the cardinal and chickadee, 
will come long distances in answer to their whistled notes, inquisi¬ 
tive to see what the other bird is about. Bird-study leads to 
many stimulating and worth-while problems. It develops an 
appreciation for some of the most beautiful creatures and adds 
not a little to one’s aesthetic satisfaction. 

And yet these values seem subordinate to the opportunity to 
help children to be really useful in protecting and increasing the 
number of so valuable an element in the life of any community. 
Let sensory impressions and information result in action, as it 
always should. Birds, like trees and flowers, are a part of the 
gladsomeness of nature that should enter largely into the joy 
of living. Moreover, they are not only beautiful but are com¬ 
mercially so very valuable that every child should be led to add 


i?8 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


to the commercial assets of the world by protecting these allies 
of man, thereby adding immensely also to his real wealth of 
happiness and contentment. Children may build bird houses, 
feeding shelves, baths, and drinking fountains; they may plant 
shrubs and trees that afford natural food and nesting sites and 
they may help destroy or control the birds’ enemies. 

Attracting wild birds.—There are a number of devices for 
attracting the birds to the home grounds, school yards, or public 


parks, such as the planting of 
tangles of trees and shrubs, 
providing food, especially in 
the winter, providing water 
for drinking and for the bath, 
and furnishing nest boxes in 
which birds may rear their 
young. On large estates, in 
city parks, and especially on 
the government bird reserva¬ 
tions, stretches of varied 
country give nesting sites 
under the best of conditions 
for all sorts of birds—water 
birds, shore birds, birds that 
nest in the open prairies, birds 
of the forest. This is not pos¬ 
sible for the owner of a small 
home place, yet some steps 
may be taken on the farm or 



Fig. 129. —Nest box of woodpecker 
(from Siepert’s Bird Homes Boys Can 
Make). 


city lot to induce birds to visit, feed, and nest upon the premises, 
and such efforts are abundantly repaid. 

Bird houses— The birds that most often patronize the nest 
boxes are house wrens, bluebirds, purple martins, and wood¬ 
peckers. Almost any container will do for wrens, a tin can, a 
cigar box, or a diminutive cottage. Make the entrance hole no 
larger than a quarter-dollar so that the English sparrow cannot 





BIRDS 


179 


enter, and jennie wren and her spouse will be quite at home. 
Bluebirds take equally kindly to any box into which they can get. 
Boys and girls will make very attractive houses with odd bits of 
lumber, wooden paint pails, or pickle pails and old tin pail covers 
that can be bent into shape for peaked roofs on cylindrical 
houses. The woodpecker’s box (Fig. 129) needs to be deep and 
to have some cleats tacked on just below the hole so that the bird 
can get a firm hold when it alights. Coarse sawdust or granu¬ 
lated cork, like that used to pack white grapes, is to be placed 
in the bottom of the box to make it seem like an excavated tree 
trunk. The wren’s house may be placed almost anywhere; 
the bluebird’s house should go on a tree or tall shrub or on a post 
in the garden, but the woodpecker’s box is most likely to be 
inhabited if set up on the tree at a distance of twelve or fifteen 
feet from the ground. In all cases it is wise to make the house 
in the fall or winter and put it out so that it may weather for a 
few weeks before the birds arrive so as to free it from the odor 
of paint and the man smell. 

Purple martins are pestered by English sparrows about the 
city. The nest box must be built with considerable capacity 
(Fig. 130), so that a whole colony can nest together for defensive 
purposes, and it must have several doors so that the martins 
can get in and out with ease. Then the martins hold their own 
and drive off the sparrows, but if only one door gives access 
to the interior of the house the sparrows take possession and 
the martins cannot successfully besiege their stronghold. The 
house should also be arranged so that each pair of martins has 
a separate compartment not exposed to drafts, else the young 
birds sicken and die. A good house plan is shown in Fig. 130; 
the house may be built two or three stories high. Set the 
house on a tall pole, if possible, over a clump of shrubs or a group 
of trees, preferably near a pond. Instal some device so that the 
doors may be kept closed until the martins arrive in the spring,' 
for they will not occupy a house that has been cluttered up by 
sparrows. Shut the house up after the m artins have left each fall. 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


180 


Bath and fountain .—The bird bath and drinking fountain may 
be combined. A shallow, galvanized iron pan can be sunk level 
with the ground under a garden-hose faucet that is allowed to 
drip, or the water may be replenished in the pan twice daily 
(Fig. 131). The water must be fresh and the pan kept clean in 
order to be attractive. The birds enjoy cold water in the 
summer, when the drip from the refrigerator may be advan¬ 
tageously used. In the winter possibly the exhaust from the 
steam heating plant can be utilized so as to keep the bath and 



Fig. 130.—The purple martin house 


drinking fountain from freezing. The bath may be located near 
a window, among shrubbery, and then the daily ablutions may 
be watched readily, or it may be a part of the equipment of the 
feeding shelf. More elaborate baths may be set up as ornaments 
in the garden or may be made a detail of the fountain. 

Feeding devices— The feeding shelf is simply a roofed platform 
or open shelf, preferably located in the shrubbery near a window 
so that its visitors may be seen from the living-room (Fig. 132). 
A window box in which plants are grown in the summer may be 
utilized for a feeding platform in the winter. Stick some 




BIRDS 


181 

branches of evergreen or some seed-bearing weed stalks around 
the edges to give some privacy. There is little use of providing 
food during the late spring or the summer, for then the birds 
prefer what they glean for themselves, but in the autumn and 
winter the birds will gladly patronize the feeding shelf (Fig. 133). 
Chopped nuts, bread crumbs, young chick feed, chopped meat, 
and meal worms that can be bought at the bird store or raised 



Fig. 13i. —The bird bath: the cover of an old galvanized iron ash pail was 
sunk upside down at the edge of the garden on the lawn. A flat rock afforded a 
good bathing beach. The pan, kept full of water, was much appreciated by the 
birds. 

at home in corn meal are all excellent attractions. The pan of 
water is a grateful addition. Pieces of suet, strings of unshelled 
peanuts or of raisins tied up in the trees, and chick feed scattered 
under the shrubbery will help bring birds to your place. It is 
surprising how such feeding places, well stocked, will draw birds 
even in the crowded tenement districts of the city and up at 
third- and fourth-story windows. In such situations, while 
English sparrows predominate, many other birds are also 
frequent visitors. 












182 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Finally, one may keep the needs of the birds in mind when 
planting trees and shrubs on the home grounds. Many native 
trees and shrubs whose fruits the birds eat may be brought in 
from the woods, and they are just as ornamental as imported 
stock purchased of the nurseryman, though there are many 
varieties of nursery stock which bear fruits that are also greedily 
eaten by the birds. There follows a 
list of some of the best trees, shrubs, 
and vines for this purpose. 

Trees: cherry, both wild and culti¬ 
vated, flowering dogwood, hackberry, 
hawthorns of all species, American holly 
and winter holly, juniper, mulberry, 
both red and white, pines, spruces, and 
tupelo. Among the cherries, the black, 
choke, pin, and sand cherries are usu¬ 
ally available. The pines and spruces 
are valuable largely as shelters and 
nesting sites. 

Shrubs: bayberry,blackberry,black 
haw, blueberry, cornel or dogwood of 
various species, elderberry, gooseberry, 
huckleberry, raspberry, wild rose, snow- 
berry, spicebush, sumacs of all species, 
viburnums. 

Vines: bittersweet, grapes of all wild species, Virginia creeper. 

Birds’ enemies.—There is little use in attempting to attract 
the birds to your neighborhood unless the cat and the English 
sparrow, their worst enemies in civilization, are banished from 
the place. Sparrows are so pugnacious that they drive away 
other birds, especially at nesting time; for two successive years 
they have thrown the eggs out of my bluebirds’ nest box and 
persecuted the house wrens until the pests were killed. They 
have been justly called “the bird rats,” and they need to be 
exterminated in order that our native and valuable stock may be 



Fig. 132. —Outdoor feeding 
shelf erected by Rockford 
{Illinois) Nature-Study So¬ 
ciety in City Park. 




BIRDS 


183 


protected. The sparrows, imported to eat up insect larvae that 
were damaging shade trees, failed at’that task and have come to 
feed largely on refuse and are quite useless. They may be 
poisoned, trapped, or shot, using .22 shells loaded with dust 
shot. 

Accustom the sparrows to feed from a certain pan or feeding 
trough, using chick feed or wheat. Then every few days sub¬ 
stitute poisoned feed for the regular diet. Leave the poisoned 
grain out only a short time and pick up any that may have been 
scattered, so that other birds will not eat it, though there is little 
danger of this if the poisoning is done in the winter when few 



Courtesy of the "Nature Study Review'' 


Fig. 133.—White-throated sparrow on feeding shelf outside a window 

other birds are about. If the poisoned food is put out after a 
snowstorm it will be most efficient, for the usual sources of food 
are then covered up. Sparrows live in a very restricted area, and 
if they are killed off in your block the native birds about your 
home will not be bothered much, even though many sparrows 
live in adjacent blocks. 

The grain is best poisoned with strychnine. Dissolve one- 
sixteenth of an ounce of strychnine sulphate in a half-pint of hot 
water. Soak one pint of grain in this solution until the water is 
all absorbed; then spread the grain out on a paper to dry. Feed 
the sparrows this dry grain. It is needless to say that this 
material should only be in the hands of very responsible persons. 





184 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The sparrow trap may either be a food trap or a nest trap. 
For the latter build a deep nest box on one side of which is a 
sliding plate of glass so that the interior is plainly in view and 
may be reached by lifting the glass. Just below the hole, which 
is well up on the nest box, place a balanced board which will form 
the floor for the nest box and an alighting shelf outside. * When 
the sparrow walks into the nest box the floor suddenly sinks with 
his weight while the shelf raises to close the opening as the 
sparrow slides down into the interior of the box, where he can be 
seen and killed. If some other bird is trapped he is released by 
simply raising the glass. The floor and the sides must be smooth 
so that the sparrow can get no hold to keep from sliding down, 



Fig. 134.—Wire trap for sparrows, side raised 


and the tilting board must be so weighted that it will drop back 
into place when the sparrow is trapped. This trap is especially 
valuable in spring, when young birds are seeking nesting sites. 
For the trap that is to be baited make a boxlike frame, 1 by 
by 3 feet, of heavy wire, such as telephone wire (Fig. 134). 
Cover all but one side (which is to be the bottom of the trap) 
and one end with inch-mesh chicken wire. Cut out two pieces 
of the same wire according to the patterns (Fig. 136). The 
figures are easily laid out on a large sheet of paper by the 
measures indicated. For the first figure draw four concentric 
circles with radii of 5, gf, 16, and 20 inches. Line 2-3 is drawn 
as an 18-inch chord in the outer circle. Lines 1-2 and 3-4 are 
12-inch lines that just touch the next smaller circle. To points 
1 and 4 draw radii. They cut the inner circle at 5 and 7. To 









BIRDS 


1 85 


lay out the second pattern draw three concentric circles of io§-, 
15-, and 17-inch radii. Points 10, 9, 18, and 17 all lie in the outer 
circle. Both point 13 and point 14 lie in the inner circle and n 
and 12 in the middle one. Bend along the lines shown in Fig. 135. 
Fasten the second funnel sixteen inches back of the first and 
pointing in the same direction. Cut a hole at ground level in the 
closed end of the trap and fasten in a box with a sliding door 
through which the sparrows may be driven from the trap and 
chloroformed after the door has been closed. Scatter a little 
grain or some crumbs in the open end of the trap and make a 
trail of the feed that leads through the small ends of the funnels 



Fig. 135.—Pattern of the sparrow trap shown in Fig. 134. The figures that 
follow are patterns of the first and second funnels; the wavy line shows a half-inch 
overlap of wire to fasten to the sides (from Farmers' Bulletin No. 493). 

to the chamber near the box. Sparrows go in readily, but in 
trying to get out the small ends of the funnels are hard to find. 
The trap must be moved from one location to another, as the 
birds become very shy of any locality in which disaster overtakes 
their kin. A trap that is an improvement over this homemade 
affair, but built on much the same line, is on the market (the 
Dodson sparrow trap). 

The cat .—Few persons realize how many domestic cats there 
are ranging the yards and fields at night, and fewer still know that 
many of these are real wild cats, once domestic but now owner¬ 
less and forced to hunt for a living. The Animal Rescue League 
of Boston, operating in that city and its suburbs, mercifully put 






i86 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


out of the way more than 30,000 vagabond cats in 1914; and 
the New York City Branch of the Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Animals performed a similar kindly office for over a 
quarter of a million cats, dogs, and other small animals. It is 
believed that homeless cats are equally numerous in the country, 
where trappers report that they are caught in the traps set for 
fur-bedring animals quite as frequently as all other kinds of 
animals put together. These animals are not in evidence except 
to keen eyes, for they are furtive and elusive and hunt largely 



at night; often the tracks on the snow and the remains of their 
kills are the best evidence of their numbers. 

A census of Massachusetts gave an average of three cats per 
farm; Chapman estimates the cat population of the United 
States at about 25,000,000. In Edward H. Forbush’s Domestic 
Cat , a bulletin of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 
from which much of this information is taken, he says that two 
hundred and twenty-six competent observers, in all parts of the 
state, report on an average three birds as the number they 
have known a cat to kill in one day, with a maximum of four¬ 
teen birds. He estimates that 700,000 birds are annually killed 
in Massachusetts by cats. “Dr. A. K. Fisher, in charge of the 






BIRDS 


187 

Economic Investigations of the Biological Survey, estimates that 
the cats of New York state destroy 3,500,000 birds annually. 
Mr. Albert H. Pratt calculates that the farm cats of Illinois kill 
2,508,530 birds yearly.” In maintaining a game preserve it is 
always necessary to exterminate the cats if game birds are being 
reared. Herbert K. Job estimated that five cats cost the New 



Fig. 137.—Picture and plan of cat trap (Mellott’s model) 


York state game farm $1,000 before they were killed. It is not 
alone the vagrant cat that kills the birds, for the domestic pussy 
kills for sport at least; she must be tethered or caged by day and 
night to prevent her, for she will kill birds even when she is well 
fed and wears a bell. Moreover, she is a relatively useless pet; 
rat traps properly set will catch many more rats and mice than 
the best of mousers. A box trap with a door that falls when the 














OUR LIVING WORLD 


188 

bait is pulled is the best device for catching stray cats (Fig. 137); 
a bunch of catnip is the best bait, but a fish head is excellent. 
Have a hole in the box large enough to see what animal has been 
caught; vagrants are usually lean and mangy. To kill the cat 
pour a couple of ounces of chloroform on the floor of the box 
through the peephole and cover the trap with a blanket or shoot 
the cat through the head. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Audubon Society. Bulletins and other publications. 1975 Broadway. 
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10 S. LaSalle St., Chicago. 

Apgar, A. C. Birds of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains. New 
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Bailey, F. M. Handbook of the Birds of the Western United States. Boston: 
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-. Birds through an Opera Glass. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 

$0.75. 

-. Birds of Village and Field. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. $2.25. 

Barrows, Walter C. Michigan Bird Life. Bulletin of Department of 
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Baynes, E. H. Wild Bird Guests. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. $2.00. 
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Holt & Co. $3.50. 

Beetham, Bentley. Photography for Bird Lovers. Witherby & Co. (Scrib¬ 
ners’Agents.) $1.75. 

BirdLore. A monthly magazine. NewYork: D. Appleton & Co. $3.00. 
Blanchan, Neltje. How to Attract the Birds. NewYork: Doubleday Paee 
& Co. $1.50. 

. Bird Neighbors. NewYork: Doubleday, Page & Co. $4.00. 
Burroughs John. Birds and Bees. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. $0.16. 

. Bird Stories from Burroughs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 
$0.60. 

. Wake Robin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. $1.35. 

Chapman, Frank M. Handbook of the Birds of Eastern North America. 
New York: D. Appleton & Co. $3.50. 

. Bird Studies with a Camera. New York: D. Appleton & Co 
$i- 75 . 







BIRDS 


189 


Chapman, Frank M. The Warbler of North America. New York: D. 
Appleton & Co. $3.00. 

-. Camps and Cruises of an Ornithologist. New York: D. Appleton 

& Co. $3.00. 

-. The Travels of Birds. New York: D. Appleton & Co. $0.40. 

Coues, Elliot. A Key to North American Birds. 2 vols. Boston: Dana 
Estes & Co. $12.50. 

Dugmore, A. R. Bird Homes. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. $2.00 

Eckstrom, Fannie. The Bird Book. New York: D. C. Heath & Co. $0.60 

—— 1L —. The Woodpeckers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. $1.00. 

Forbes, S. A. Midsummer Bird Life of Illinois. Bulletin of the Illinois 
State Laboratory of Natural History. Vol. IX, art. vi. 

Forbush, E. H. Our Useful Birds and Their Protection. Massachusetts 
State Board of Agriculture (out of print). 

—. Game Birds, Wild Fowl, Shore Birds. Massachusetts State Board 
of Agriculture, Boston. 

-. The Domestic Cat, Bird Killer. Economic Biological Bulletin 

No. 2. Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, Boston. 

Headley, F. W. The Flight of Birds. Witherby & Co. (Scribners’ 
Agents.) $1.25. 

Herrick, F. H. Home Life of Wild Birds. New York: G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons. $2.00. 

Job, Herbert K. How to Study Birds. Outing Publishing Co. $1.50. 

-. The Sport of Bird Study. Outing Publishing Co. $2.00. 

Johonnot, James. Neighbors with Wings and Fins. New York: The 
American Book Co. $0.40. 

Mathews, F. S. Field Book of Wild Birds and Their Music. New York: 
G. P. Putnam’s Sons. $2.00. 

McAtee, W. L. Plants Useful to Attract Birds and Protect Fruit. Separate, 
Yearbook Department of Agriculture, No. 505. 

Miller, Olive Thorne. First and Second Book of Birds. Boston: Houghton 
Mifflin Co. $0.60 and $1.10. 

-. Little Brothers of the Air. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. $1.35. 

Reed, Charles K. North American Birds’ Eggs. New York: Doubleday, 
Page & Co. $2.50. 

-. Birds, Land and Water (or either separately). New York: 

Doubleday, Page & Co. $1.00. 

Sage, Bishop, Bliss. The Birds of Connecticut. State Geological and 
Natural History Survey Bulletin No. 20. 

Sanford, Bishop, Van Dyke. The Waterfowl. New York: The Macmillan 
Co. $2.00. 







OUR LIVING WORLD 


190 

Sieper, Albert F. Bird Houses Boys Can Build. Peoria, Ill.: Manual 
Training Press. 

Traf ton, Gilbert H. Bird Friends. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. $2.00. 

-. Methods of Attracting Birds. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 

$i- 3 S- 

Walker, M. C. Our Birds and Their Nestlings. New York: American 
Book Co. $0.60. 

Whelock, I. G. Nestlings of Forest and Marsh. Chicago: A. C. McClurg 
& Co. $1.00. 

Weed and Dearborn. Birds in Relation to Man. Philadelphia: Lippincott 
& Co. $2.00. 

Williams, Sarah. Through the Year with Birds and Poets. Boston: Lothrop, 
Lee & Shepherd Co. $1.00. 

Wright, Mabel Osgood. Gray Lady and the Birds. New York: The 
Macmillan Co. $1.00. 

Wright and Coues. Citizen Bird. New York: The Macmillan Co. $1.50. 
United States Department of Agriculture: 

Erroneous Ideas Concerning Hawks and Owls. Yearbook, 1895. $0.55. 
Birds That Injure Grain. Yearbook, 1897. $0.60. 

Birds as Weed Destroyers. Yearbook, 1898. $0.60. 

Food of Nesting Birds. Yearbook, 1900. $0.75. 

Some New Facts about the Migration of Birds. Yearbook, 1903. $0 75. 
Economic Value of Predaceous Birds and Mammals. Yearbook, 1908. 
$0.60. 

Separates: 

No. 197, How Birds Affect the Orchard. 

No. 443, Does It Pay the Farmer to Protect the Birds. 

No. 504, Plants Useful to Attract Birds and Protect Fruits. 

No. 590, Our Meadowlarks in Relation to Agriculture. 

No. 601, Relation of Birds to Grain Aphids. 

Bulletins: 

No. 187, Preliminary Census of the Birds of the United States. 

No. 619, Food Habits of the Swallows. 

National Museum Reports: 

Comparative Oology of North American Birds. 1892. $1.00. 

Bulletins of the United States Bureau of Biological Survey: 

No. 9, Cuckoos and Shrikes in Their Relation to Agriculture. 

No. 15, Relation of Sparrows to Agriculture. 

No. 17, Birds of a Maryland Farm. 

No. 18, Distribution and Migration of North American Warblers. 

No. 21, The Bobwhite and Other Quails of the United States in Their 
Economic Relation. 



BIRDS 


191 


No. 22, Birds Known to Eat the Boll Worm. 

No. 23, The Horned Larks and Their Relation to Agriculture. 

No. 25, Birds that Eat the Cotton-Boll Weevil. 

No. 26, Distribution and Migration of North American Ducks, Geese , 
and Swans. 

No. 27, The North American Eagles and Their Economic Relations. 

No. 29, The Relation of Birds to the Cotton-Boll Weevil. 

No. 30, The Birds of Colorado in Relation to the Fruit Industry. 

No. 32, Food Habit of the Grosbeak. 

No. 34, Birds of California. 

No. 35, Distribution and Migration of North American Shore Birds. 

No. 37, Food of the Woodpeckers of the United States. 

No. 38, Birds of Arkansas. 

No. 39, Woodpeckers in Relation to Tree and Wood Products. 

No. 44, Food of Our More Important Fly Catchers. 

No. 171, Food of the Robins and Bluebirds of the United States. 

No. 280, Food Habits of the Thrushes of the United States. 

Circulars: 

No. 17, Bird Day in the Schools. 

No. 56, Value of Swallows as Insect Destroyers. 

No. 61, Hawks and Owls from the Standpoint of the Farmer. 

No. 64, Destruction of the Cotton-Boll Weevil by Birds in Winter. 

No. 79, Our Vanishing Shore Birds. 

Farmers’ Bulletins: 

No. 383, How to Destroy English Sparrows. 

No. 456, Our Grosbeaks and Their Value in Agriculture. 

No. 493, The English Sparrow as a Pest. 

No. 497, Some Common Game, Aquatic, and Rapacious Birds in Relation 
to Man. 

No. 506, Food of Some Well-known Birds of Forest, Farm, and Garden. 
No. 513, Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard. 

No. 609, Birdhouses and How to Build Them. 

No. 621, How to Attract Birds in Northeastern United States. 

No. 630, Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer. 

No. 755, Common Birds of Southeastern United States in Relation to 
Agriculture. 

No. 760, How to Attract Birds in Northwestern United States. 

No. 844, How to Attract Birds in the Middle Atlantic States. 

No. 912, How to Attract Birds in the East Central States. 

Farmers’ bulletins are issued by the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, D.C. 


CHAPTER V 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 

The hunter .—One group of animals is a source of perennial 
interest to both child and man: it is the group of animals that 
have been companions to him through the long ages of his rise 
from savagery to civilization. Back in primitive times, almost 
as early as man’s remains are recognized as such, when his 
implements were implements of flint and his home was still a 
cave, the bones of his faithful dog are found along with those of 
his master. Probably this same dog was no small element in the 
successful survival of the human race, for his keen sense of smell, 
his endurance in the chase, and his loyalty made him an inval¬ 
uable ally in hunting; with his aid man could safely attack the 
more ferocious animals of his environment. The dog comes down 
to us from that early day when man was a nomadic hunter. 

There are other animals, too, that have been trained by man 
to share in his hunt; such for instance are the cheetah, or hunting 
lion, of Mexico and Central America; the falcon, used so com¬ 
monly in England in the capture of pheasants and other small 
game; the ferret, that is no mean helper of the poultryman. 
While the elephant can hardly be classed as a hunting anymal yet 
it commonly takes part in the hunt, not as a dog in tracking the 
prey, but simply as a means of making a way through the other¬ 
wise impenetrable jungles into the lair of the tiger or lion. The 
hunter finds its back a place of safety, and from this point of 
vantage he shoots his arrows, throws his spear, or kills with the 
more formidable modern rifle. 

The herdsman .—But the domestication of another group of 
these animal companions facilitated man’s advance from the 
crude civilization of a nomadic hunter to that of the herdsman 
with his flocks. When man succeeded in sufficiently taming such 


192 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


193 


animals as the goat, sheep, cow, and hog so that they would 
remain near his habitation and under his care he became more 
or less independent of the uncertain supplies of wild game as a 
source of food and clothing. The skins of such animals probably 
made his tent a more convenient dwelling than the chance cave. 

There is no sharp distinction between the animals that made 
up the wealth of the primitive herdsman and those that may be 
designated the beasts of burden. The nomadic herdsman, 
changing his location as new grazing territory was needed, must 
of necessity have carried his household effects with him, and not 
infrequently he used the same cattle that supplied him with food, 
clothing, and shelter as a means of transportation. The horse, 
the ox, and the llama are still valuable chiefly as beasts of burden. 

Pets.—It is quite natural that as man associated so constantly 
with these domesticated animals there should grow up between 
him and them a degree of attachment. Not infrequently the colt 
or the calf, kept for utility primarily, comes to be quite as much 
of a pet as the cat that is kept largely for sentiment. But there 
are animals that serve us simply as pets and that probably have 
never had any other than an aesthetic value; such are the canary 
bird and the goldfish. Whether it is a recapitulation of racial 
history that makes the boy and girl so fond of their pets or 
whether the phenomenon is to have some other explanation, it is 
certain that animal companions may be made to serve a very 
useful purpose in education. It is an excellent thing for a 
growing boy to have some animal dependent upon him for its 
comfort. Its demands are insistent; it must have proper 
shelter, must have food with regularity, and must be kept clean. 
It goes without saying that a neglected animal is worse than none, 
but that same remark would apply equally well to almost any 
adult responsibility. It is a part of the educative process to see 
that the child does meet the responsibilities that he assumes. 
Then, too, many physiological facts are learned incidentally in 
caring for the animal companions. It is true that there is some 
danger that the child will get an improper perspective in viewing 


194 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


bodily functions from the standpoint of the animal; and yet that 
is much more likely to be healthfully corrected than are the 
erroneous notions with which he arrives at an age of social 
responsibility if he has had no experience with such vital matters. 



Fig. 138.—Chums 


The fault is largely in his instruction and the neglect of opportu¬ 
nities if his notions of sex relations, for instance, are allowed to 
remain on a purely animal plane. 

Animal educators.—There is something fine in the compan¬ 
ionship of an intelligent animal, especially that of a dog. To one 
who looks back upon a boyhood in which a dog was companion 



ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


195 


of many adventures, playmate, sympathetic confidant, a chum 
always ready for a romp or a tussle, it seems almost a crime to 
bring up a boy, at least, without the chance to repeat the 
delectable racial comradeship. 

So important are the educational advantages of association 
with the animal companions, that it seems worth while to bring 
them into the school curriculum; not only that, but it is quite 
feasible to bring the animals themselves into the schoolroom and 
to study at first hand many of their interesting characteristics. 
Under city conditions, where it is difficult for children to get out 
of doors for nature-study, these animals are one of the chief 
resources of the nature teacher. And even in the town and 
country the child’s interest in such materials is so great that it 
pays to study some of these animals in the school as well as to 
encourage their maintenance in the home. 

Animals at school —This is not as difficult a proposition as 
it seems at first. The boy or girl will bring the pet dog to school, 
day after day, to serve as a basis for several lessons. The cat 
may be brought, too. Many of the animals may be kept in 
appropriate pens or cages in the schoolroom rabbits, guinea- 
pigs, white mice, chickens, ringdoves, pigeons, canaries, all adopt 
the schoolroom as a home very willingly. Many of the wild 
animals may be kept in the schoolroom. A number of common 
fishes will live very comfortably in the schoolroom aquaria. 
Squirrels, gophers, field mice, wild birds, such as a covey of 
young quail, frogs, toads, lizards, and even snakes are a part of 
the schoolroom equipment in many centers of enthusiastic 
nature-study. Obviously it is of first importance to know how 
to obtain and take care of such creatures. 

Cages—In the author’s experience it has been found advisable 
to keep only one sort of animal in the schoolroom at a time, unless 
the animals are those that live in the aquaria. But if the cages 
are those that can be easily moved (Fig. 139), a small stock of 
animals may give to each grade some experience with each in 
turn. Probably in time an animal house will be built in the 


196 


OUR LIVING WORLD 



school yard and in it the animals may live under very natural 
conditions; to it the children may go for their nature lessons, a 
plan that avoids many difficulties for the teacher and discomforts 
for the animals. Still, the small indoor cages are quite feasible. 
Make a rectangular frame of one-and-one-half-inch lumber and 
cover it except the bottom and one end with inch-mesh chicken 
wire. Make the bottom of flooring with groove and tenon, so 


Fig. 139.—The indoor cage 

that it will be tight. Set a door frame in the open end and cover 
it with the wire; hinge it and provide it with hasp and staple. 
Run a six-inch-wide strip of half-inch stuff all around the outside 
of the cage at floor level so that the animals cannot so readily 
scatter the sawdust or straw that covers the cage floor. Casters 
will make it easy to move the cage from room to room. If 
chickens or pigeons are to be kept in the cage provide it with a 
couple of roosts. It is also well in all cases to provide the cage 
with a small box, on one side of which a door may be cut, so that 






ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


197 

the animals may go into a dark retreat to sleep and rest when 
they so desire. 

Such a cage, while a great convenience, is by no means a 
necessity when a pair of animals are to be kept in the school only 
for a short time. Any small box may have its open side covered 
with chicken wire and serve as a temporary cage; if rodents, 
such as rabbits or squirrels, are to be kept it is well to cover the 
whole box with the wire, as they readily gnaw through thin 



Fig. 140. —View of animal houses and some of the pens, Gary, Indiana 


boards. Do not use painted wire netting for the cages, for 
animals will gnaw off the paint with which it is coated and 
the results may be disastrous to them. Straw, sawdust, or dry 
earth spread on the bottom of the cage will add to the animals’ 
comfort. A pan of drinking water should always be provided 
and the cage must be kept clean. 

Care of pets.—The house the animal is to occupy permanently 
should be built so that it is warm, dry, light, and easily cleaned 
(Fig. 140). The dog kennel, for instance, must be built of 
sufficient size so that the animal, when full-grown, can stretch 








OUR LIVING WORLD 


198 

out full length inside; it should have double walls with air space 
between and should be made windproof, either by using matched 
lumber or building paper; the floor must be raised off the ground 
and a couple of windows or ventilators provided to give an 
abundance of light and fresh air. One end of the kennel should 
be made so that it can be removed entirely in order to make it 
easy to clean the interior. If the dog must be kept chained, as 
is often the case in the cities, give him a long, strong chain that 
slips along an overhead wire so that he may run back and forth. 

Rabbits and cavies (Fig. 141) may be kept in a similar house, 
subdivided inside so that each female may have a separate pen. 



Fig. 141.—A white, short-haired cavy or guinea-pig 


Only one male should be kept in the house, for the males fight 
badly, and that one should be taken out if young are born, for 
the males often eat their offspring. The young of these animals 
should not be handled at all until they are well covered with hair; 
the man smell upon them seems to incite the mother to kill them 
and eat them. The house should connect with a generous yard 
or runway, fenced with inch-mesh chicken wire that runs a foot 
below the ground so that rabbits will not burrow out. The 
pigeon cote or chicken coop needs to have a cement floor or else 
to be set up on posts so that rats will not get in, for these animals 
will steal eggs and destroy young as fast as they appear. The 
yard or flying pen is best fenced and roofed with inch-mesh 
chicken wire. 






ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


199 


Wild animals. —In keeping wild animals try to make their 
back-yard pen as nearly like their native haunts as possible. 
The pen in which turtles or frogs are confined must have a broad 
shallow pan of water sunk flush with the ground; some blue 
flags or cat-tails may be planted at its margin. An alligator 
may be kept in such a pen, too, and transferred in the early fall 
to a washtub or large aquarium indoors in which the water is 
shallow and which is provided with a mud bank or a wood plat¬ 
form at one side so that the animal may crawl out to bask in the 
sun. Porcupines, woodchucks, racoons, opossums, crows, ducks, 
snakes, all thrive in confinement if given good care. A washtub 
or a half-barrel makes a pond that is roomy enough to be the 
home of many of the smaller fish, and a lad might come to know 
the habits of many of the common fish of ponds and streams by 
stocking such a back-yard pool some summer. Wash some sand 
and gravel and throw it in on the bottom. Plant some pond 
weeds in this, such as are suggested in the chapter on animals of 
pond and stream (p. 6). Minnows and other small fish may be 
caught in a net that is made by fastening the ends of a piece of 
mosquito net, three or four yards long, to two four-foot poles. 
If one boy takes one pole and another boy the other and then 
hold them vertically in the water so that one edge of the netting 
reaches to the bottom and the other is at or above the surface, 
and if the two walk along the opposite margins of a stream or 
pond many fish may be captured for observation. They should 
be transferred at once to a good-sized pail with three or four 
inches of water in the bottom. In some states fishing with such 
a net is illegal at some times of the year. The state fish 
commission or the biological survey connected with the state 
university can inform you in regard to such laws. The fish 
commission, if such exists in the state, is usually very willing 
to send fish and their eggs to any school that will make good 
use of the material. 

Sanitary care. —It is imperative that every animal house t 
whether dog kennel, rabbit hutch, chicken coop, canary cage, or 


200 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


pigsty, be kept scrupulously clean, not alone for the comfort of 
the animal, but because these animal companions of ours are a 
grave source of danger when diseased. They are the hosts of 
parasites that may infect man. The cat, because she is a tropical 
animal living in a trying northern climate, is peculiarly suscep¬ 
tible to diphtheria and tuberculosis, which diseases, it has been 
demonstrated, she readily transfers to children. Scrub out the 



Fig. 142.—The flying pen for pigeons 


kennel, coop, or hutch with water to each gallon of which have 
been added eight tablespoonfuls of creolin, or coat the inside with 
whitewash to which creolin has been added in the same propor¬ 
tion. Let the house dry well before the animals are replaced. 
Use straw for the bedding or hay for rabbits and cavies, as the 
hay serves them for food also. Renew the bedding every few 
days and burn the old litter to get rid of fleas. The cat should 
have her own box or bed, and the mat or litter on which she sleeps 
should be kept clean. 












ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


201 


Bathe dog or cat in a solution of creolin, using four teaspoon¬ 
fuls to the quart for the dog and half as much for the cat, as her 
skin is more tender; or the solution may be rubbed into the fur 
with a cloth or brush. It does not need to be washed out as it 
improves the fur and the odor keeps away vermin. Powdered 
alum, sprinkled freely under rugs and in cracks and crevices, will 
free the house of fleas if pets have brought them in. 

Feeding. —The pet dog is very likely to suffer from over¬ 
feeding. He then becomes sluggish, loses his playfulness, and 
often develops skin diseases. Feed a young dog twice a day on 
dog biscuit or table scrap, including plenty of vegetables and 
cereals; when the dog is full-grown feed him once a day. The 
puppy needs more meat than the full-grown dog, but for either 
it should be cooked and should not make up more than a fourth 
of the diet. Rabbits and cavies, kept out of doors, may be fed 
on grass, vegetables, and grains; cavies breed best when given 
plenty of carrots; indoors they should be fed on dry foods, like 
grains, bread crusts, and clover hay, so as to avoid unpleasant 
odors. Always keep some sticks of wood in the rabbit cage for 
them to gnaw so that the cutting teeth are worn down; otherwise 
the mouth may be propped open by their growth so that the 
animal cannot chew. Pigeons thrive on chick feed (Fig. 142), 
and both pigeons and chickens need gravel or some sort of grits 
and plenty of green stuff; lawn clippings may be used in summer, 
sprouted oats in winter. Woodchucks and prairie dogs (Fig. 
143) are fed similar to rabbits; opossum and porcupine take 
table scrap. Most turtles and frogs are fed insects and scraps of 
meat, like chopped liver and fish; the land turtles, such as the 
box turtles, are vegetarians, feeding on berries and fruits. All 
the cold-blooded creatures, especially the alligators and snakes, 
go without feeding for long periods. At first the alligator may 
be disinclined to eat in captivity, and the meat must be poked 
down his throat with a stick far enough so that he will swallow it; 
he soon becomes willing to take the meat without waiting to be 
stuffed, and his capacity for live, frogs is quite equal to that of 


202 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


snakes after the winter’s fast (Fig. 144). Fish in captivity may 
be fed on the prepared fish food and on chopped meat, but all 
that is not eaten within an hour or two should be removed 
from the aquarium so that it will not foul the water. Numer¬ 
ous small larvae, crustaceans, and plants that can be dredged 
up out of pond or stream, even in winter, are welcome food for 
the fish. 

Wild traits.—The feeding habits of our common animals are 
replete with interest, for so many traits are reminiscent of their 
wild past; they offer, too, instructive illustrations of the intimate 



Fig. 143— Prairie dog in school animal cage (Gary, Indiana) 


relation of structure and function. Thus puss eats daintily, par¬ 
taking of her food with apparent relish. She prefers to enjoy 
her meal by herself and often runs off with the bone or other 
appetizing morsel to hide under the stove or in the corner while 
she leisurely devours it, sniffing it first to satisfy her nose as well 
as her palate. The dog, on the contrary, bolts his food in great 
gulps. He seldom minds onlookers, and other dogs only hasten 
his ravenous efforts to get his full share of the available food. 
The members of the great cat family are accustomed through 
generations of usage to quietly partake of the prey which they 
have hunted alone and killed in the solitude of the forest or 





ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


203 


jungle. Not so the dog tribe; they have hunted in packs, and 
when the kill was at last accomplished each animal seized his share, 
eating amid a jostling crowd of hungry fellows; each secured the 
choicest morsel possible and defended it against all comers; each 
was anxious to stow as large a share as possible in the shortest 
time in that one spot secure from the claims of disputants. 

Both dog and cat use their sharp claws to hold the bone while 
gnawing off the meat and both use their back teeth in the process. 
The front teeth, the incisors, are small and weak, as may be 



Fig. 144.—A pet blue racer 

readily seen; our own are well developed, and in biting corn off 
the cob, for instance, we use them to advantage. The dog and 
cat must get the bone around at the side of the mouth so as to 
bring into play the sharp-edged, strong, back teeth. Our 
corresponding teeth are flat-topped and are used for grinding the 
food. Dogs and cats have no such grinders and their food is 
eaten with little chewing. Such animals feed naturally on meat. 
The cat’s rough tongue serves to rasp off shreds of meat that stick 
to the bone. The lion’s tongue is so rough with its horny points 
that a single lick draws blood. The dog usually crunches the 
bone and swallows the bits instead of cleaning it. 





204 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The squirrels, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and white rats all belong 
to a group of animals known as the rodents, or gnawers, because 
their front teeth, the incisors or scissor teeth, are so strong and 
sharp that they gnaw their way into the pantry, the granary, or 
other storeroom of man’s food and help themselves. The chisel¬ 
like teeth quickly cut into the food, shaving it so that the flat- 
topped back teeth can grind it readily. The squirrel (Fig. 145) 



Fig. 145.—The chipmunk eating 


leaves his tooth marks on the nutshell, the rat’s are visible on the 
cheese or the woodwork about his hole, but the rodent that leaves 
his trade-mark most plainly on his work is the beaver (Fig. 147). 
I have watched him cut down an eight-inch poplar in twenty 
minutes, biting into the wood so as to take out chips in a ring 
around the tree and continuing the process until the tree toppled 
over. Beavers fell birches a foot and a half in diameter, and 
birch is by no means a soft wood; poplars three feet in diameter 




ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


205 


are none too large for them to cut. He is a close relative of our 
common muskrat (Fig. 148), whose houses are so common on 
the margins of reedy ponds and swales. 

Certain of our foreign critics think it is not without reason 
that we have put the bison, a cud-chewing animal, on our coins 
as a national emblem. We thus recognize, in a measure at least, 
man’s great debt to this group of animals, including the cow, 



Fig. 146.—A doe in the forest home 


sheep, goat, camel, llama, etc., that have been among the most 
valuable of man’s animal allies. These beasts feed largely on 
grass and tender shoots, which they crop off in leisurely fashion, 
swallowing the food at once into a temporary stomach from 
whence it is later brought back to the mouth to be thoroughly 
chewed and swallowed a second time, going then to the digesting 
stomach. The advantage of this type of feeding is apparent. 
Deer, for instance (Fig. 146), may go out to feed in the early 



206 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


morning or in the evening twilight into the grassy glades of the 
forest, where they quickly gather a stomach full and then go back 
into the recesses of the forest to chew their provender in com¬ 
parative security. Thus cattle feed in the open and then go 
into the shadow or stand belly deep in the stream while chewing 
their cud. 

The cow has no incisors on the upper jaw. The grass is held 
against the sharp edges of the lower teeth by the pressure of the 
callous gums, and then as the head swings up it is torn off. 



Fig. 147.—Skull of a beaver and the tree he cuts 


Sheep and goats have a similar arrangement of teeth and the 
same upward swing of the head in feeding. The peculiar noise 
made as the grass is torn off is quite characteristic of the browsing 
herd. 

The domestic birds, such as chickens, turkeys, peahens, and 
others, like their wild relations, are largely grain or seed eaters. 
The heavy bill for picking up food and the strong feet that enable 
the animal to scratch in the soil to disclose the hidden kernels 
are well adapted to the services they perform. Since these 
animals do not chew their food they swallow pebbles and bits of 
stone that help to grind up the food in the muscular gizzard. 





ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


207 


The crop serves as a temporary stomach to hold the grain waiting 
to go to mill in the gizzard. 

Drinking .—Almost every child has watched the cat or dog 
drink and then has tried to curl his own tongue up into a ladle to 
dip up the water only to find that in more ways than one the 
tongue is an unruly member. At first it seems quite a marvelous 
thing that a horse is able to put its mouth in the water and pump 
up a satisfying drink through its long throat. Yet we often 
kneel beside the spring and drink in a similar manner. When 
once the water has passed from the mouth into the throat the 



Fig. 148.—A tame muskrat (photograph by E. A. Lewis) 


ring muscles of the esophagus push it along, by their contractions, 
to the stomach quite as well uphill as down. The trapeze trick 
of the circus performer who while hanging head down drinks a 
glass of water is difficult only in its initial stage; it requires 
practice to pour water into your mouth under such conditions 
without getting it into your nose, but when once it is swallowed 
the rest of the process is automatic. 

Cleanliness .—There is a great contrast in the relative fondness 
of the cat and dog for water. The dog loves his swim quite as 
well as does the small boy, but puss has an instinctive aversion 
to the bath. This is true of the whole family of cats. Even the 




208 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


fishing cat refuses to get more than her paws wet in her efforts to 
secure her food. The cat’s tongue is wash rag, brush, and comb 
all in one. The recurved horny points upon it that make it feel 
so rough when she licks your hand serve to get out the dirt from 
the fur, and the cat’s coat always looks sleek and clean. Indeed 
all our domestic animals are instinctively clean. The horse and 
cow submit gratefully to brush and comb and evidently enjoy 
these appurtenances of civilization, as do also dog, cat, goat, and 
rabbit. Chickens and pigeons go over their feathers with their 
bills, removing dirt and oiling them thoroughly so that they are 
waterproof. Even the pig, usually regarded as the dirtiest of all 
our animal allies, is naturally cleanly. Poor piggy has little hair 
on his skin to save him from the bites of annoying insects, so that 
he delights to coat himself with a layer of protecting mud. But 
in the wild his lair is always clean, he is choice of his food, and if 
given a clean sty and clean water while in confinement he will 
keep himself as clean as any of the more respected domestic 
animals. 

Protection.—Animals in the wild, exposed to cold, to winds, 
to rain, and to all the other inclemencies of the weather, subject to 
shortage of food or continued drought, living in all sorts of danger 
from their many enemies, must needs be protected, else they 
would die off entirely and leave none of their kind upon the earth. 
Indeed, that ruthless elimination of the unfit has happened over 
and over again, and the old rocks contain the fossil records of 
hundreds of species that have become extinct. Within the 
memory of the present generation half a dozen animals have 
disappeared from the face of the earth. Our domestic animals 
have many structures and types of behavior that are reminiscent 
of their wild ancestors and that once were essential to their 
survival, although now man’s care renders them more or less 
unnecessary. The cat and dog are still quite able to protect 
themselves with tooth and nail, the cow’s horns are still to be 
respected, the goat is notorious for his vigorous butt, the horse 
sometimes bites and his kick is to be feared, and even the appa- 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


209 


rently inoffensive bunny occasionally displays his ability to care 
tor himself. One night a prowling cat forced his way into the 
rabbit cage, and in the morning I found the poor cat dead, his hide 
torn to shreds by the kicks of the buck’s hind feet, that are armed 
with claws that are terribly effective. 

Horses and cattle, sheep and goats, run naturally in herds in 
the pastures, just as their wild relations still do on the ranges. 
One cow or horse or sheep is no match for a bunch of worrying 
dogs and it usually takes refuge in flight, just as the wild 
relation did when the pack of wolves attacked it. But when 
the herd is together even the wolves respect the circle of lowered 
horned heads or the hard hoofs. When a dog runs after a cow 
down the village street his yelps stir up ancestral memories in all 
the dogs within earshot and they join the chase, while the cow 
with tail up, wild-eyed, runs for her life to shelter or makes her 
way to the protecting herd. 

Usually the males are best provided with weapons of offense 
and means of defense. Thus the ram wears the horns, the stag 
has the great antlers, the boar the tusks, and the rooster the spurs, 
while the manes of the lion, the bison, and the stallion serve to 
protect the most vulnerable parts in the fierce encounters. The 
male uses his tremendous strength in protecting the females and 
the young, often giving his life in defense of his herd. The 
natural pugnacity of the boy is an instinct that is common to 
males of his animal forbears, an instinct that needs not repression 
but its proper expression; it may well be directed along the 
channels indicated by the animal allies, the protection of the 
weak of the species. The world is always in need of good 
fighters. 

These animal companions of ours have numerous structures 
and habits that protect them from the fury of the elements. 
Their fur (Fig. 150) and feather coats are impervious to cold and 
rain. The thin summer pelage is exchanged for a thicker one in 
the fall, and this in turn is shed and a new summer coat is grown. 
So effective are these coats of fur and feathers that many of the 


210 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


wild animals have been well-nigh exterminated in furnishing them 
to covetous man. The records of the Hudson Bay Company 
are almost unbelievable. The annals of those bold fur traders 
furnish also some of the most exciting tales of adventure found 
in all our literature, stories that in their portrayal of truth 
outrival the imaginative flights of the narrator of fiction. 

Wintering .—Many of the animals, particularly the birds and 
some insects, like the monarch butterfly, escape the cold of winter 
by their migration southward. Even more marvelous seems 
the hibernating instinct whereby the animal, fed to repletion in 



Fig. 149. —Muskrat houses on a snow-covered swamp 


the autumn, crawls into his den and passes the winter in a stupor. 
Our squirrels hibernate by spells, coming out on the warm days 
to bask in the sun and feed on the stores of nuts, returning again 
to the nest hole to spend the very cold days. 

The changes that go on in the warm-blooded animals at the 
time of hibernation are very wonderful. The gopher has a 
summer body temperature of 105°; in winter it is 58°; his summer 
respiration is fifty per minute, his pulse two hundred, but in 
winter his respiration is imperceptible and his pulse only four. 
In winter his leg may be cut off with the loss of only a few drops 
of blood, which is so altered that it scarcely flows at all. 










ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


211 


Winter spreads far but goes not deep; down only about four feet; and 
Woodchuck, if he can not escape overland, can, perhaps, underland. So 
down he goes through the winter, down into a mild and even temperature, 
five long feet away—but as far away from the snow and cold as bobolink 
among the reeds of the distant Orinoco. 

Indeed, Woodchuck’s is a farther journey and even more wonderful than 
Bobolink’s, for these five feet carry him beyond the bounds of time and space 
into the mysterious realm of sleep, of suspended life, to the very gates of 
death. That he will return with Bobolink, that he will come up alive with 
the spring out of this dark way, is very strange, for he went in most meagerly 
prepared. He took nothing with him apparently. The muskrat built him 
a house and under the spreading ice turned all the meadow into a well- 
stocked cellar. The beaver built a dam, cut and anchored under water a 
plenty of green sticks near his lodge so that he, too, would be under water 
when ice formed, and have an abundance of tender bark at hand. Chip¬ 
munk spent half his summer laying up food near his underground nest. 
But Woodchuck simply digged him a hole, a grave, then ate until no particle 
more of fat could be got into his baggy hide, and then crawled into his tomb, 
gave up the ghost and waited the resurrection of the spring [Dallas Lore 
Sharp, Wild Life Near Home]. 

Coat color that harmonizes with the environment is a very 
common means of protection still seen in many of our familiar 
animals, although in many cases the breeder has altered the 
natural color of fur or feathers to suit man’s fancy. The red 
squirrel is found largely among the pines, whose reddish trunks 
render him inconspicuous as he climbs to feed on the seeds of 
the cones, while the gray squirrel inhabits the forests in which 
the nut trees have grayish bark. It takes a sharp eye to see the 
gopher as he stands on the lookout in the field, for his coat 
closely matches the ground and dried grasses. The color of the 
dog’s fur is very variable through man’s selection, but when the 
dog reverts to his wild condition, as shipwrecked specimens have 
on lonely islands, he resumes in a few generations the tawny coat 
of his wild forebears. I have spent months in the forests where 
wolf tracks were as common as dog tracks about a village and 
have seen wolves only twice. The color of the dog’s eye, un¬ 
changed by man’s selection, as it is a matter of no importance 
in the various breeds, is still brown, as it is in practically all the 


212 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


wild mammals. The colt frequently displays the stripes so 
characteristic of the zebra that harmonize so well with the 
alternate bands of light and shade among the tall grasses and 
reeds where it feeds. The wild rabbit, it is well known, changes 
in the autumn from the brown coat color that matches the dead 
leaves of the forest floor to white, so that he is inconspicuous in 
the snow. The arctic foxes make a similar change, as do some 
of the birds, like the ptarmigan. 

Some animals, well able to care for themselves, match the 
color of their environment not so much to gain protection as to 
be able to creep up on their unsuspecting prey and capture it. 
Thus the polar bear, large as he is, is relatively inconspicuous in 
his white coat on the snow fields. The cat gliding stealthily 
through the shrubbery is scarcely seen by the bird until she is 
within pouncing distance. So the lion matches well the sandy, 
rocky wilds he inhabits, and the tiger, living in the reeds and 
rushes along the watercourses, is striped vertically in black and 
yellow like alternate gleams of sunshine and shadow. The great 
cats that live in the forests are mottled like the checkered pattern 
of the sunlight filtering through the leafy screen on the forest 
floor. 

Keen senses play a very important part in the animal's 
protection. That animal escapes destruction whose sharp eyes, 
sensitive nose, or alert ears inform it of danger while it is yet a 
long way off. Thus hunting comes to be a fine art; the novice 
may go into the woods or out on the prairies where game is 
abundant and yet see nothing but tracks and tantalizing traces 
of the numerous wild things that are constantly eluding him. 
Horses, cattle, and rabbits have large, funnel-shaped ears that 
can be moved like ear trumpets to pick up the sound from any 
direction and so locate the source of danger. How promptly 
the dog pricks up his ears at the least sound. Occasionally a 
boy will be found who can move his ears a bit, and all of us have 
the rudimentary muscles still attached to the ears that are the 
counterparts of the ones the animals use to prick up their ears. 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


2 13 


The cat’s eyes are particularly efficient in the dim light; many 
of the great cats hunt in the partial gloom of the forests and most 
of them are night prowlers. The long whiskers of the cat, rat, 
and rabbit are sensitive hairs that enable such animals to follow 
the devious paths of the forest or to go along underground 
passageways without bumping into things at every turn, for 
they feel readily what they cannot see in the indistinct light. 

The dog, rabbit, cow, and pig have a keen sense of smell. 
Man takes advantage of this when he uses the dog as a hunter. 
Pigs have been trained to serve the same, purpose. Indeed, the 
pig’s nose is a wonderful combination, a keen organ of smell, 
an extremely sensitive organ of touch, and yet so tough that it 
roots in hard ground, even among stones, without wearing out. 
Some dogs are famous trackers, particularly those with the long 
snout that gives plenty of room for a large area of sensitive 
olfactory membrane. It is said that the American Indian, in 
the early days, tracked his foe or the animal he hunted quite as 
much by his nose as by his eye and that this is still true of some 
savages. Civilization seems to have deadened our sense of smell 
so that we make very little use of it. 

Smell is closely akin to taste. One can only taste substances 
that are in solution. This can readily be noted by wiping the 
surface of the tongue dry and then sprinkling on the tip a pinch 
of either salt or sugar; it is only tasted when the saliva has had 
time to run down and dissolve it. Thus things are smelled also 
only when the gases given off by the odoriferous substance are 
dissolved in the moisture of the nose membranes. Animals with 
a keen sense of smell always have moist noses and also cold noses, 
for the moist surface is constantly losing heat by evaporation 
and is cooler than its surroundings. If a drop of rapidly evap¬ 
orating liquid, like ether or gasoline, is placed on the hand the 
spot feels perceptibly cooler as the liquid disappears. 

Structure. —These animal companions of ours furnish many 
examples of the nice adjustment of structure to function (Fig. 
150). In the first place they are all built on the same general 


214 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


plan—all are vertebrates. The backbone may readily be felt on 
horse or cow or dog, running from the base of the skull to the tip of 
the tail and attaching solidly at shoulders and hips to the heavy 
bones that connect with the legs. Bleached skeletons of mammals 
that have lain out of doors for some time may often be found and 
will show how well the skeleton provides the body with a strong 
framework and at the same time allows ample freedom of motion. 



Fig. 150.—The sheep pen 

Limbs are all built on the same plan, whether it be the arm 
of a man, the foreleg of a dog, the wing of a chicken, or the fin of 
a fish. It seems quite marvelous that there should be this 
fundamental unity in organs that have such varied functions. 
Yet the parts are in each case modified so as to be nicely adjusted 
to the particular function to be accomplished. It is a simple 
matter to compare the foreleg of the dog or horse with our own 
forearm and note that there are the same long bones, similarly 
placed and related to the joints in a similar way. In the wing 








ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


215 


of the bird some of the parts are reduced, and yet it is evident on 
inspection that the wing is simply the foreleg with the parts 
altered to suit the new purpose that is to be served. The dog’s 
or the cat’s paw is equivalent to our hand. The bones occur in 
the same order, are in the same relation to the joints, and are in 
fact identical in every way, except that the thumb is much 
shortened and is withdrawn up the leg so as to be lifted from the 
ground. Our fingers move much more freely and are much more 
skilful, yet our toes have no corresponding cunning. Probably 
no small part of man’s advance in civilization is due to the 
gradually changing structure of the forefoot that allows him to 
move his fingers independently and to oppose the thumb to them 
so that objects can be handled. 

In the hog and cow not only the thumb or great toe has 
disappeared, but the index and little fingers have become much 
reduced and are visible only as rudiments. So the animal is 
apparently two-toed and walks, not as we do or as bears do, on 
the flat of the foot, but on the tips of the toes. The toe and finger 
nails have developed into hoofs to bear this added burden. In 
the horse all the toes have disappeared except the middle one 
and two other rudimentary ones that we call the splints. The 
horse walks on the nail of his middle toe. The fossils contained 
in the ancient rocks indicate that the horse originated as a small 
animal, about the size of an ordinary dog, and that it lived on 
very soft and swampy land. The foot then had five spreading 
toes that enabled it to travel over such miry ground successfully; 
later on its habits changed and contemporaneously its structure. 
Other species appeared in place of the original one, and these 
were gradually larger, longer of limb, with a foot that through 
long ages was reduced to a single toe, as we find it in the horse of 
today. Now it is an animal that lives on the hard dry ground 
of the steppes and pampas and depends on its speed of limb for 
safety. 

Comparing the leg of the horse with your own you will be 
surprised to find that what you at first take for its knee joint is 


216 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


really the ankle and that the bones of the foot have greatly 
elongated to help make the horse’s leg a long one. Such elonga¬ 
tion of bones to produce long legs is a distinct advantage in the 
increased speed produced. A long, straight leg easily swings 
forward, like a pendulum, for a long stride, while a doubled-up 
leg, like the hind leg of cat or rabbit, makes leaping easy, but is 
not efficient for prolonged and speedy running. 

This admirable relation of structure to function is seen again 
in the skulls of these various animals. Thus the squirrel and the 
bulldog have spherical heads, while the hound and the pig have 
elongate heads. The squirrel uses his front teeth to gnaw with, 
while the hound crushes the bone with his back teeth, for he needs 
the long snout for his keen nose that demands extensive smelling 
area. In biting, the resistance of the nutshell is the weight, the 
end of the jaw that hinges to the skull is the fulcrum of the lever, 
and the power is applied where the great muscles, felt swelling 
on the cheeks when you bite, attach to the jawbone. This 
attachment is relatively close to the fulcrum so that the power 
arm is short. The longer the jaw the longer the weight arm and 
therefore the less the force of the bite. 

Distribution.—The wild relations of these animal compan¬ 
ions may well be used to illustrate the laws of animal distribution. 
If one looks up in encyclopedias or in natural histories the natural 
habitats of such great cats as bay cat, fishing cat, cheetah, jaguar, 
lynx, lion, manuel, ocelot, ounce, panther, puma, rusty cat, serval, 
tiger, wildcat, and yaguarandi, and indicates the range of each on 
a map of the world, it will be apparent that most of them are 
confined to the tropics and that Southern Asia is the home of a 
very large proportion. Apparently this is the original home of 
the great cat family, and from this center they have spread 
into other parts of the earth, except as they have been kept out 
by impassible barriers. Such localities as Australia and New 
Zealand, that have been separated from the mainland for a very 
long time, have no cat inhabitants. Cats have been largely shut 
out of Northern Eurasia by the great mountain chains to the 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


217 


north of their original home and by the cold climate which acts 
as a barrier in Northern North America and Southern South 
America. The cats are primarily tropical animals and, like our 
domestic pussy, do not take kindly to the cold. Puss goes out 
in the winter only with protest and then treads the snowy paths 
gingerly. The lynx is the only one of the great cats that has 
learned to live in the higher latitudes. Several of them are found 
in Central America, whither they must have migrated over some 
tropical continental area now obliterated, or else by way of the 
Behring Strait country when it was enjoying a warmer climate 
and Eurasia was continuous with North America. 

Animal projects.—The commonplace animals of the home are 
not alone interesting in the problems that their curious habits 
suggest or because of nice structural adjustment to their environ¬ 
ment and to their methods of winning a livelihood, but they may 
also afford an opportunity for worth-while projects. For the 
seventh- or eighth-grade boy or girl to make money by raising 
squabs; to maintain a commercially practicable chicken coop; 
to raise hogs or beef for profit; to successfully breed angora cats; 
to be a scientific butter producer, will in any case insure careful 
observation, accurate reasoning on the basis of facts learned, and 
research and good judgment under conditions that duplicate 
those under which the problems of real life must be solved. 
Moreover, such projects will insure reading to a purpose, drill in 
letter-writing, composition, arithmetic, and bookkeeping, such 
as cannot be achieved under the artificial stimulus usually applied 
in the schoolroom. Directions cannot be given in limited space 
for the conduct of many such projects, but instructions for many 
such undertakings will be found in the books and pamphlets 
listed at the end of the chapter. Two typical projects may be 
discussed here, one for the school and one for the home—the 
chicken yard and the care of the dairy cow. 

Chickens.—There are four distinct types of chickens: (1) 
fancy birds, kept for their elegant plumage, such as the Japanese 
long-tailed fowls whose tail feathers are sometimes twenty feet 


2 l8 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


long; (2) egg producers; (3) meat producers, and (4) general 
utility fowls, those that lay well and still are heavy enough to 
give a good weight of fine-flavored meat. 

The Leghorns and the Minorcas are familiar, types of the egg 
producers. Such fowls are neat, trim, with spare though long 
and deep bodies and rather long legs. They are active, rather 
nervous and easily frightened, and sensitive to cold. They lay 
well but set poorly. Brahmas, Cochins, and Langshans are good 
types of meat-producing fowls. They are heavy and are 



study. 

compactly built, with short neck, full body, and short legs. 
They are phlegmatic, relatively inactive, thickly feathered so 
that they stand cold well, incessant setters but poor layers. The 
Orpingtons, Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds (Fig. 152), and 
Wyandottes are well-known breeds of the general utility type. 
For the novice some of these fowls make the best stock. In 
purchasing stock buy from a good utility strain rather than from 
show stock. 

The henhouse. —There are two types of chicken house—the 
portable colony house and the stationary flock house. The 



ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


219 


colony house is large enough to accommodate about twenty 
cnickens, while the stationary house (Fig. 153) may have room 
for hundreds. The portable house is built on runners, so that it 
can be moved from one location to another, into the orchard for 
shade in summer or out to the grainfield after harvest so that the 
chickens may feed on the gleanings. The small portable house 
is advantageous in that chickens in small colonies lay better and 
are freer from disease; the large house has the advantage that 
the labor of caring for many chickens is reduced if they are all 
together near supplies. 



Fig. 152.—Rhode Island Red rooster and boy caretakers 


The house should be located on dry, well-drained land, pref¬ 
erably with a southern slope. If the site is sheltered to the 
north and west by a house, barn, or group of trees, egg production 
may be maintained during the winter when prices are highest. 
The house is built with three sides closed; the fourth has windows 
facing south. 

Poultrymen are agreed that the house should be large enough 
to give each hen three to four feet of floor space. This is espe¬ 
cially necessary in the North, where hens are kept indoors by the 
inclement winter weather. The roof need only be high enough 
to make it possible for the caretaker to enter and move around 




220 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


so as to keep the place clean. The house must have these 
essentials: plenty of fresh air, sunlight, freedom from dampness 
and drafts, and cleanliness. A cement floor is advisable for the 
stationary coop, for it is cleanly and helps exclude rats. The 
movable coop can be taken to new ground when the dirt floor of 
the old location becomes foul. Mix crushed stone or gravel with 
cement, six parts of the former to one of the latter, by repeatedly 
shoveling the two, thrown together on some hard level spot of 
earth or on a sheet of galvanized iron. Wet this and shovel it 
over twice more. Fill the base of the coop with this and while 
it is still wet cover it with a half-inch layer of sand and cement 
mixed four to one and wet with water in the same way, to the 
consistency of thick cream. Smooth this off with the flat of the 
shovel or, better still, with the mason’s tool made for the purpose. 

The window, which may also serve as' door, should run from 
just below the roof to the floor so that the sunshine will strike 
all parts of the coop during the day, as sunshine is a very efficient 
germicide. On this same south side make a long narrow opening, 
high up from the floor, and fit it with a hinged frame covered with 
heavy cheesecloth. This is kept raised by day but lowered by 
night, so that while fresh air may be abundantly admitted all 
drafts are excluded. The walls and roof should be built of 
matched lumber or else should be covered with building paper, 
and in cold climates should be covered also with shingles or 
sheathing so as to make the coop windproof. 

Inside, the coop must have movable perches, a droppings 
shelf, nest boxes, and a dust bath. The best perch is a pole, one 
and a quarter inches in diameter and octagonal in cross-section. 
It should be supported on foot-high legs and be placed on the 
droppings shelf opposite the window. The droppings shelf is 
made wide enough to catch all manure and is built thirty inches 
or so below the roof. Keep the shelf sprinkled with dry earth 
and clean it off frequently. An earth bin may be built in one 
corner of the coop and filled in the fall with earth for winter use. 
The accumulated manure should be kept in covered ash cans or 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


221 


barrels for use on the garden in the spring. The dust bath is 
simply a box constantly supplied with fine coal ashes in which 
the chickens may dust themselves as a preventative of lice. 

Trap nests .—In order to know what hens are laying enough 
eggs to more than pay for their board trap nests are needed, and 
they are very little more trouble to build than ordinary nests 
(Fig. 154). Build a box 12 X15 X30 inches, inside measure, and 
open at one end, or use an empty shoe packing box, which is 
about this size. Halfway between the ends put in a cross¬ 
partition that stands five inches above the floor of the box and 



Fig. 153.—The chicken coop 


another 5 X 15-inch strip in similar position at the open end; 
the first serves to separate nest and trap and the latter to support 
the trap board. This trap board is made of two pieces nine or 
ten inches wide, one thirteen the other sixteen inches long, 
hinged together at one end. Hinge the other end of the thirteen- 
inch piece to the base of the five-inch partition that bounds the 
nest so that when the hen steps on it in entering the trap it will 
sink under her weight to the floor of the trap, forcing the sixteen- 
inch length into a nearly vertical position (Fig. 154), so closing 
the door of the trap. When the trap is set the sixteen-inch 
board extends straight out of the doorway. The hen steps up on 












222 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


it, walks in toward the nest, and her weight shuts the door; she 
must stay in the trap after laying until released. Each hen 
should wear a leg band bearing a number; such bands are pur¬ 
chased of dealers in sets numbered from i up. Record should 
be kept of the laying of each hen. 




Fig. 154.—The trap nest (from Bulletin of the Maine Agricultural Experiment 
Station). 


Egg production .—Egg production depends much on the 
opportunity for activity provided the chickens. They lay best 
when given the run of the fields, and under such conditions, too, 
they forage for themselves and secure much of their food. The 
egg-laying breeds are the best foragers, while the meat producers 
cannot be depended on to secure much if any of their food. If 
the chickens must be kept in a yard it must be large enough to 







ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


223 


allow six or seven square yards to each hen. The ground should 
be kept fresh by frequently spading it, which will also induce the 
hens to scratch and thus get exercise. 

Feeding .—A laying hen is an egg-manufacturing machine and 
must be fed well—that is, provided with plenty of raw material, 
in order to lay well. Moreover, her food must be of such kinds 
as may be turned into the ingredients of the egg with the least 
effort on her part. The simplest method of feeding is to provide 
the chickens with a variety of wholesome foods and let them 
select to suit their individual needs, for even if a balanced ration 
is provided it is impossible to control what goes into the chicken’s 
crop; one hen will eat only the corn, another will select mostly 
the oats out of the mixed grain provided. 

Five sorts of feed must be constantly used: (1) ground grain, 
like corn meal, linseed meal, or bran; (2) whole or coarsely 
broken grain; (3) animal food, like beef scrap or blood meal; 
(4) green stuff, like cabbage, beets, or clover clippings; (5) lime, 
for shell formation. In addition grit is needed to aid digestion. 
A chicken’s food goes first to the crop, an organ for temporary 
storage. It is ground up later in the muscular gizzard, where bits 
of stone or gravel help do the work somewhat as the millstones 
grind the grain. The ground grains are the staple articles of diet, 
for they are most easily digested and most promptly usable in¬ 
egg production; they are fed, together with meat scrap, in a self¬ 
feeding, ratproof hopper that is kept where the hens can eat 
at any time. A good combination for laying hens is twenty 
pounds of wheat bran, ten each of corn meal, gluten feed, or a low 
grade flour and of meat scrap, with an additional five pounds of 
linseed meal every second month (Maine Experiment Station 
Ration). The whole grains used may be wheat, corn, and oats 
in the proportion of two, two, one. Each morning throw a quart 
of this mixture, for each twenty-five hens, into the straw litter 
that is kept on the floor of the coop where the hens must scratch 
to get it. Chopped cabbage, beets, or mangels together with 
sprouted oats make good green food; a cupful a day for a pen 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


224 

of twenty-five is enough. Crushed oyster shells for the lime and 
grits containing some charcoal should always be available in 
hoppers and plenty of fresh water must be on hand in the 
automatic fountains. 

Cleanliness— All food, as well as the straw used for the litter, 
must be clean and free from mold or mustiness. The coop itself 
must be kept clean; wash it out with the same creolin solution 
that was advised for the dog kennel, spraying the solution into 



Fig. 155— This Rhode Island Red hen was mated to a White Leghorn rooster. 
One of the offspring, a rooster, was mated to the hen and the chicks shown are 
the result. 

all cracks and crevices. The perch especially must be kept clean 
in order to avoid sore feet. Do this cleaning only on a bright 
day and then early enough so that the coop will be dry before 
roosting time. Lice powder may also be used freely on the hens, 
nests, and perches. Such painstaking care in housing and feeding 
chickens may seem unnecessary to the average householder whose 
back-yard chicken pen supplies the home with eggs part of the 
time and with broilers often, yet it is worth while for the boy or 
girl to learn how to do the thing properly, as the really expert 
chicken fanciers are doing it; for the extra care does increase 





ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


225 


the profits enormously and makes all the difference between a 
pen of chickens that really pays and one that is a constant 
financial loss. 

Accounting .—In order to see if your project is a paying one, 
keep account of all expenses—cost of feed, labor, and supplies, 
together with interest on the money invested in equipment and 
stock. Credit the poultry account with all proceeds from sales 
of eggs and chickens. Experiment with different sorts of feed, 
a number of which you will find given in textbooks on animal 
husbandry or in the pamphlets issued by state agricultural 
colleges, and try to see what foods give the largest production of 
eggs for the money invested. Figure the average cost of feeding 
one hen for six months; having the egg-production record of each 
hen it is a simple matter to see if every hen is making a profit. 
The unprofitable ones should be marketed. Study the market 
too; possibly some household, hospital, or store can be found 
that will give exceptionally good prices for a dependable supply of 
strictly fresh eggs, especially if they are of large size. 

Breeding .—It is a worth-while project for any boy or girl who 
has a pen of chickens to try breeding for increased egg-laying 
(Fig. 155.) Even if of the same strain, hens differ much in their 
productivity. The hen that lays fifteen dozen eggs a year is not 
uncommon'now. Hens will lay quite as well when no rooster 
is present, and such infertile eggs keep well. When eggs are 
desired for hatching, a rooster is needed for each colony of twenty 
to twenty-five hens. It is quite important that the rooster as 
well as the hens be from good laying stock. Sometimes a hen 
herself has an exceptionally good egg-laying record, but does not 
transmit her ability to her offspring. Keep a record of the 
matings and when you find a rooster and a hen whose offspring 
lay early and freely use the same pair again for parents. Try 
matings of their offspring, keeping egg-laying records of all the 
pullets, and thus attempt to discover and establish a strain that 
will give large returns. The hen that lays a hundred eggs and 
can transmit her ability is better breeding-stock than the one 


226 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


with a record of two hundred eggs whose offspring are poor 
layers. If two roosters are used in separate coops, the hens being 
so far as is known alike, and the pullets from one coop turn out 
excellent layers while those from the other lay poorly, likely the 
rooster from the first coop is a superior bird, prepotent in his 
power to transmit egg-laying ability, and it would be well to mate 
him with the hen that transmits her heavy production to her 
offspring. 

Difficulties .—Such a project cannot, of course, be carried to 
successful completion in a single year; it is carried with the pupils 
as they advance from grade to grade or else turned over, with a 
stock of good advice, to the incoming pupils. Nor may it be 
conducted without meeting many difficulties. One second- 
grade teacher, bubbling with enthusiasm after a summer’s course 
in nature-study, asked her superintendent to finance the begin¬ 
nings of such a chicken project, but was rebuffed with skeptical 
coldness. The children, however, readily caught her infectious 
spirit; one volunteered to bring an old hen in the spring, and a 
dozen others each promised an egg for the setting. In due time 
the hen and thirteen eggs arrived, but the only available coop 
seemed the space under the teacher’s desk; so there, in the 
wastebasket which was turned into a nest, the hen was duly set. 
The interest in the progress of events was boundless, and the hen 
was hand fed during the process of incubation. Thirteen chicks 
hatched, but bad luck was bound to follow since the thirteen 
came on a Friday. Before school closed that day one little 
fluffy nestling had already died. On Monday morning, however, 
Biddy was presented with a tiny chick, captured from a neigh¬ 
bor’s flock by one enterprising boy who feared the school hen 
would be lonely without her full number of chicks. Thus began 
the series of problems, both spiritual and physical, that attended 
the enterprise through several years. The janitor volunteered 
to provide a box as a temporary coop, and later, when the chicks 
grew larger and scattered much of their litter, his persuasion, 
added to that of the pupils, obtained from the superintendent a 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


227 


more commodious coop in the school yard, where the project 
produced material for arithmetic lessons, compositions, and 
drawing lessons as well as eggs and more chickens. 

The dairy cow.—Just as there are different breeds of chickens 
for different purposes, so there are breeds of cattle that are 
particularly good as milk producers, others that are raised largely 
for the fine quality of their meat; the former are the dairy type, 
the latter the beef type. The Aberdeen Angus, Galloway, 
and Hereford are common breeds of the beef type. The 
Guernsey, Holstein, Fresian, and Jersey (Fig. 156) are all of the 



Fig. 156.—The dairy type of cow. Mature Jersey: “Sunbeam of Edgeley,” 
629; 18,744 lbs. milk, 926 lbs. fat. Owned by James Bagg & Son, Edgeley, Ontario 
(Agricultural Gazette , Department of Agriculture, Ontario). 

dairy type. There are some cattle of the general-utility type 
serving both purposes; such are the brown Swiss, the Devon, 
the Shorthorn, and the Red Polled. In the neighborhood of 
many schools there will be found cattle of several breeds. Inter¬ 
esting field trips may be conducted to nearby barnyards or 
pastures to see these cattle, after which the differences in the 
types may be talked over. 

The beef creature is very broad; the muzzle is wide and 
strong, the eyes far apart, the short straight front legs have 
ample room between them; the neck is short and thick, the level 
back is broad, the hind quarters fat and smooth; the whole 




OUR LIVING WORLD 


228 

animal is built on the square to carry weight. The dairy type, 
on the contrary, is long, deep, tapering toward the shoulders, 
muscular but not fleshy; the shoulders and hips are more 
prominent. The udder extends well up behind and carries well 
forward along the belly. The milk veins are prominent in the 
older cows. In both types soft, pliable skin, silky, glistening hair; 
neatly pointed ears with long hairs along the margins and at the 
tips, fine-grained, not shelly or coarse, horns, calm eyes, and full 
forehead are signs of quality. 

Milk analysis .—The different breeds of dairy cows produce 
milk with quite unlike qualities. Some breeds give milk that is 
particularly rich in butter fat; others yield milk that contains a 
large percentage of solid matter and so is especially valuable in 
making cheese; and still others are heavy milkers without 
producing milk particularly adapted to either butter or cheese 
making. Such differences can be readily demonstrated in the 
school without much apparatus, although of course it is more 
satisfactorily shown with the usual appliances for milk analysis. 
The more accurate methods may be reserved for the upper grades 
and only the crude analysis indicated here may be carried on 
with homely utensils. 

Have the children bring milk from as many different sources 
as possible, together with some tall pint bottles, jars, or glass 
cylinders. Put a pint of each sort of milk into a bottle or 
cylinder and let it stand so that the cream will rise. Cream is 
really the massed butter droplets which are light and so float to 
the top. The differences in the amount of cream can readily be 
seen if the bottles or cylinders are all alike or may be measured 
and calculated in percentages. It shows much more plainly in 
tall, narrow bottles than it does in wide ones like pint fruit jars. 
Skim off the cream and let the rest of the milk sour or else curdle 
it with a junket tablet. Pour moderately hot water into the sour 
milk and stir it so as to coagulate the solid parts, so making 
cottage cheese. Hang each sample up in a separate cheesecloth 
bag and let it drain overnight. In the morning empty out the 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


229 


cheese and weigh this coagulable part of the milk. Do the 
samples that gave the largest amount of cream necessarily 
contain the smallest amount of this solid part ? 

Butter making .—This process may be demonstrated even by 
the little children. Have each child bring a clean pint fruit jar 
with rubber and cap, a half-pint of cream, and a small strainer, 
like a tea strainer. The teacher may provide some salt and 
florist’s pot markers to be used in place of the wooden spoons 
with which the butter is usually worked. Let each child put the 
half-pint of cream in the fruit jar and screw on the top tightly, 
the rubber band being in place; shake the jar until lumps of 
butter appear and continue as long as more butter forms. Pour 
the liquid through the strainer to collect the butter and save the 
buttermilk to taste. Wash the butter in cold water, then put 
it in a cup of cold water and work it so that the separate lumps 
are massed together and the buttermilk all squeezed out. Pour 
off the water and work in a pinch of salt. Try the butter on a 
cracker and note how it tastes. 

Feeding the cow .—The dairy cow is simply a machine for 
turning feed into milk. Evidently it is important that only such 
feed be given as will be most readily digested and will yield the 
largest returns for the money spent on it. In spring and summer 
no feed is required other than pasturage, if that is good; in fall 
and winter the cow must be fed a proper ration. There is no 
short rule for telling what that proper ration is, for it varies with 
the season, breed, character, and condition of the cow. It will 
be enough for the grade pupil at home to help weigh out and mix 
the feed, help weigh the milk, and determine its butter fat, 
all under the guidance of some older person on the farm. The 
results as well as the methods in vogue may be reported at school. 
If, however, feeding on the home farm is not done carefully with 
weighed proportions in order to make a balanced ration, nor the 
milk weighed or analyzed, the boy or girl of the upper grade may 
get consent from parents to undertake it with one cow. He must 
then provide himself with one of the many excellent bulletins 


230 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


issued by various agricultural colleges or state departments of 
agriculture and follow the instructions given regarding feeding 
and the care of the milk. Some titles of such bulletins are given 
at the end of the chapter. 

In any community in which the balanced ration is not fed to 
cattle or the milk weighed or analyzed the school might well 
undertake to start the practice. A pair of spring scales could 
be bought and lent to first one pupil for a couple of weeks and 
then to another, so that the food could be weighed out in accord¬ 
ance with the instructions of the bulletin, and the milk produced 
could also be weighed. One of the simple sets of milk-analysis 
outfits could be lent about in the same way. Each pupil could 
then report on feeding and milking one particular cow for a 
definite period and all could note the effect in increased or better 
milk production of the improved ration. If the community is 
already feeding scientifically, weighing and analyzing the milk, 
then the pupils will be interested in learning at home what 
methods are in vogue, what results are achieved, and in reporting 
such data at school. Let a tabulation be made of the breeds of 
cattle that are kept on the several farms or at the homes, of the 
various rations that are fed, of the milk yield each day, and of 
the analyses of the milk. The school can be a clearing house of 
much valuable information and at the same time pupils will be 
having good drill in securing information, reporting on it in good 
English, making accurate calculations, and in putting results 
into tabulated form for comparisons that will give drill in the 
scientific method of investigation and scientific thinking. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Burkett, C.W. (Ed.) Domesticated Animals. Boston: Ginn & Co. $3.50. 
Burroughs, John. Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers. Boston: Houghton 

Mifflin Co. $0.60. 

Comstock, Anna B. The Pet Book. Ithaca, N.Y.: The Comstock Co. 

$3 • 00. 

Cornish, C. J. Animals at Work and at Play. New York: The Macmillan 

Co. $1.75. 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


231 

E wart, J. C. Principles of Breeding and the Origin of the Domesticated Breeds 
of Animals. United States Department of Agriculture. Reprint. 
Fabre, Jean-Henri. Our Humble Helpers. The Domesticated Animals. 

New York: The Century Co. $2.00. 

Hornaday, W. T. The American Natural History. New York: Charles 
Scribner and Sons. $3.50. 

Howliston, M. H. Cat Tails and Other Tales. Chicago: A. Flanagan Co. 
$0.25. 

Hulbert, Wm. Davenport. Forest Neighbors. New York: Doubleday, 
Page & Co. $1.50. 

Ingersoll, Ernest. The Life of Animals. New York: The Macmillan Co. 
$2.00. 

-. Wild Life of Orchard and Field. New York: Harper. $1.40. 

Lane, J. All About Dogs. New York: John Lane Co. $2.50. 

Lewis, Harry R. Poultry Keeping. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. 
$1.00. 

Mathews, F. S. Familiar Life in Field and Forest. New York: D. 
Appleton & Co. $1.75. 

Miller, Olive Thorne. Four-Handed Folk. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 
$0.75. 

-. Little Folks in Feathers and Fur. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. 

$2.50. 

-. Our Home Pets. New York: Harper. $1.25. 

Monteith, John. Familiar Animals and Their Wild Kindred. New York: 
American Book Co. $0.50. 

Richards, L. E. Four-feet, Two-feet, and No-feet. Boston: Dana, Estes & 
Co. $2.00. 

Roberts, Charles G. D. Children of the Wild. New York: The Macmillan 
Co. $1.50. 

-. Kindred of the Wild. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. $2.00 

-. Neighbors Unknown. New York: The Macmillan Co. $1.50. 

-. Watchers of the Trails. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 

$2.00. 

Rogers, Julia E. Wild Animals Every Child Should Know. New York: 
Grosset & Dunlap. $0.75. 

SI. Nicholas. Cat Stories, Lion and Tiger Stories, Bear Stories, Stories of 
Brave Dogs. Reprinted. New York: The Century Co. $0.75 each. 
Seton, Ernest Thompson. Animal Heroes. New York: Charles Scribner 
and Sons. $2.00. 

-. Lives of the Hunted. New York: Charles Scribner and Sons. 

$2.00. 









232 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Scton, Ernest Thompson. Wild Animals I Have Known. New York: 
Charles Scribner and Sons. $2.00. 

Shnler, N. S. Domesticated Animals. New York: Charles Scribner and 
Sons. $2.50. 

Sharp, Dallas Lore. Wild Life Near Home. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 
$1.25. 

Stone and Cram. American Animals. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 
$4.00. 

T -Vatson, James. TheDogBook. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. $5.00. 
Westell, W. P. The Boys' Book of Pets. New York: F. A. Stokes. $1.75. 
Wright, Mabel Osgood. Four-Footed Americans and Their Kin. New 
York: The Macmillan Co. $1.50. 

Farmers’ Bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture, Wash¬ 
ington, D.C.: 

No. 96, Raising Sheep for Mutton. 

No. 100, Hog Raising in the South. 

No. 106, Breeds of Dairy Cattle. 

No. 137, Angora Goat. 

No. 170, Principles of Horse Feeding. 

No. 234, The Guinea Fowl and Its Use as Food. 

No. 235, A Successful Poultry and Dairy Farm. 

No. 287, Poultry Management. 

No. 328, Silver Fox Farming. 

No. 330, Deer Farming in the United States. 

No. 369, How to Destroy Rats. 

No. 442, The Treatment of Bee Diseases. 

No. 447, Bees. 

No. 496, Raising Belgian Hares and Other Rabbits. 

No. 528, Hints to Poultry Raisers. 

No. 530, Important Poultry Diseases. 

No. 556, The Making and Feeding of Silage. 

No. 562, Organization of Boys' and Girls' Poultry Club. 

No. 574, Poultry House Construction. 

No. 576, Breeds of Sheep for the Farm. 

No. 612, Breeds of Beef Cattle. 

No. 619, Breeds of Draft Horses. 

No. 667, Breeding and Training Colts. 

No. 682, A Simple Trap Nest for Poultry. 

No. 684, Squab Raising. 

No. 697, Duck Raising. 

No. 743, Feeding Dairy Cows. 

No. 767, Goose Raising. 

No. 777, Feeding and Management of Dairy Calves and Young Dairy 
Stock . 


ANIMAL COMPANIONS 


233 


No. 779, How to Select a Sound Horse. 

No. 791, Turkey Raising. 

No. 803, Horse Breeding Suggestions for Farmers. 

No. 806, Standard Varieties of Chickens: the American Class . 

No. 811, Production of Baby Beef. 

No. 840, Farm Sheep Raising for Beginners. 

No. 858, The Guinea Fowl. 

No. 874, Swine Management. 

No. 889, Backyard Poultry Keeping. 

No. 898, Standard Varieties of Chickens: the Mediterranean and Con¬ 
tinental Classes. 

No. 935, The Sheep Killing Dog. 

United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey. 
North American Fauna (largely technical): 

No. 13, The Bats. 4 

No. 15, The Jumping Mice. 

No. 18, The Pocket Mice. 

No. 29, The Rabbits. 

No. 31, The Wood Rats. 

No. 32, The Musk Rats. 

No. 36, Harvest Mice. 

No. 38, The Moles. 

No. 39, Pocket Gophers. 

No. 40, Prairie Dogs. 

No. 41, Grizzly and Brown Bears. 

No. 44, The Flying Squirrels. 



Fig. 157.—Coyote in his pen—a school pet 









Fig. 158.—A student’s cover design—flowers 





















































CHAPTER VI 
WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


Weeds.—Every child, before he finishes his work in the grade 
school, should know the common flowering plants of his region. 
To walk afield and not be able to speak familiarly to the flowers 
that nod to you is to miss one of the commonplace joys of life; 
and one does not need to go out to the country to see these 
ordinary flowers, for many of them bloom unnoticed along our 
streets and roadways, on our lawns, and in the vacant lots of the 
city. True, we ordinarily speak of these as weeds and ignore 
them, or perhaps even curse them as pests. Yet here are some 
very interesting plants, interesting because they have succeeded 
so admirably under adverse conditions and severe competition 
and because they illustrate many of the fundamental principles 
of plant activity and plant evolution. It will evidently be 
impossible, in the compass of a single chapter, to treat the 
flowering plants of even a limited portion of the United States; 
and so attention will be given only to those plants usually 
considered as weeds. They are common everywhere. The 
same species are of wide distribution, occurring all over the 
country. 

Parts of plant.—A.t first it is well to study some single plant 
that shows the parts well. We may take the common soap wort 
or bouncing Betty (Fig. 159), the evening primrose, the fireweed, 
or the mullein, also called the velvet plant. Do not select for 
this initial study any plant like the dandelion or aster, in which 
the so-called blossom is really a cluster of tiny flowers, each too 
small to be examined without a microscope. 

With the specimen of soapwort in hand, an entire plant, notice 
the roots, stem, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit. Each pupil 
should have his own specimen; while in the field getting it, have 


23s 



236 OUR LIVING WORLD 

him notice the extent of the root system. Ordinary sweet clover 
is another good plant to use for this study, as the fine roots will 
be found growing to a great depth and spreading far from the 
stalk. Commonly, also, on the roots of the sweet clover will be 
found the tubercles containing the nitrifying bacteria that enable 
the leguminous plants and some others to utilize the nitrogen of 


Fig. 159.—Soapwort 

the air as a source of food material. This topic will be discussed 
more fully in the chapter on “ Seeds and Seedlings.” 

With a sharp knife cut a cross-section of the stem of the plant 
and see the fibrovascular bundles imbedded in the softer tissue. 
An excellent plant for demonstrating these bundles is another 
common weed, the plantain or ribwort. Pick a leaf of this that 
has a long stem and break the stem. The fibrovascular bundles 




WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


237 


are very tough and will probably pull out of a part of the stem 
as strings (Fig. 160). Take hold of one of these strings that is 
still attached to the leaf and pull it out, noticing its course. Note 
how it branches into smaller and smaller subdivisions, each 
running into some vein of the leaf. These serve not only to 
strengthen the stem but also to conduct the sap of the plant. 

The blossom .—It will be observed that the blossom of the 
soap wort is composed of two conspicuous parts, the green 
cuplike portion or the calyx and the pink part of the blossom, 
the corolla, the base of which is 
held by the calyx. Both calyx 
and corolla are made up of sepa¬ 
rate parts that are more or less 
fused in some other flowers. 

These parts are the sepals that 
make up the calyx, and the pet¬ 
als, which, though unfused in 
this flower, are collectively spo¬ 
ken of as the corolla. Pull off 
the corolla from the blossom 
and there will be left, besides 

the calyx, the stamens and the « , . 

. .. . Fig. 160.—Leaf of ribwort, showing 

pistil. There are ten of the for- fibrovascular bundIes . 
mer, each having a hairlike stalk 

or filament that bears the yellowish enlargement at its tip that is 
known as the anther. Probably every child knows from observa¬ 
tion that the anther discharges a yellow dust, the pollen, for his 
nose has been yellowed by it when he has smelled the flower. At 
the center of the group of stamens is the pistil, an Indian-club- 
shaped structure with a divided top. The swollen basal portion 
of this is the ovary, which bears the two threadlike styles, cn 
the tip of each of which is a sticky knob that is termed the 
stigma (Fig. 161). 

Scientific terms .—It may seem to the uninitiated that a great 
many scientific terms have been used, and the teacher may 





238 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


hesitate to use these with pupils. Such hesitation is quite 
groundless, for even young children learn these terms with ease. 
There need be no fear of loading the child’s mind with too many 
technical terms, provided only those terms are used which are 
really needed in talking about the things of interest to the child. 
If a flower is to be examined and its activities discussed there 
must be names for the parts, and it is just as easy for the child 
to use the term “calyx” as it is for him to use the descriptive 
phrase, a set of little green leaves that is found at the base of the 
flower. Certainly much time is saved. 



Fig. 161.—Wild mustard, showing parts of the flower: a, seen from side, sepals 
on outside, then the four petals; b, a single petal; c, sepals and petals removed, six 
stamens and pistil left; d, the fruit, the ripened ovary. 


Seed pods .—Take a whole flower stalk of soapwort or of 
evening primrose (Fig. 162) in your hand and note that the basal 
part of the stalk is occupied by the seed pods in an old plant. 
Open one of these seed pods and notice the seeds and their 
arrangement in the pod. It will be seen that while there are 
mature pods on the lower part of the stalk there are newly 
formed pods farther up the stalk, and still farther up the pods 
bear the more or less faded corollas, each of which is partly 
inclosed by the calyx. Children will readily discover that the 
pod has developed from an ovary, in fact that it is nothing more 
than the matured ovary. If an ovary is cut open it will be found 







WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


239 


to contain a number of tiny ovules, much smaller than seeds, 
but arranged just as the seeds are arranged in the pod. This 
may be seen to hold true for other fruits; compare the cross- 
section of an apple with a cross-section of the ovary of the apple 
blossom. A very excellent plant to show this relationship is 
the May apple, or mandrake (Fig. 163). The pistil is very large 
and shows the ovules well, and all stages may be traced from the 
pistils of the flowers to the matured May apples. Pupils may 
thus be led to realize that the fruit is, in all plants, just the 



Fig. 162.—Forming seed pods in evening primrose 


ripened ovary, sometimes with the addition of adjacent parts 
that adhere to it. This is an exact use of the term “fruit,” 
making it include many things that are not ordinarily spoken 
of as fruits. Thus a pumpkin is quite as much a fruit as is an 
orange. 

Fertilization.—In many of the flowers that have conspicuous 
parts, the pupils can find the pollen, discharged from the anthers, 
on the hairy or sticky stigma. The successive events that 
complete the story of the pollen and its relation to the transfor¬ 
mation of the ovary into the fruit will have to be told to the 




240 


OUR LIVING WORLD 



Fig. 163. —Mandrake apples in forma¬ 
tion from the pistil: upper left figure, the 
flower; the others, the enlarging pistil. 


pupils, since the parts concerned are too small to be seen without 
the microscope. Shortly after alighting on the stigma, each 

pollen grain thrusts out a tiny 
tube, finer than a hair, which 
grows down through the style 
into the ovary and penetrates 
an ovule. Meanwhile an egg 
has been forming in each 
ovule, as it is the function of 
the ovary to produce eggs 
from which little plants (or 
animals) grow. The living 
content of the pollen grain 
now flows down through its 
tube and part of it unites with 
the living substance of the egg (Fig. 164). This process is termed 
“fertilization,” and as a result of it the egg proceeds to grow into 
the diminutive plant which we find 
within a seed. The rest of the 
ovule forms the protective cover¬ 
ings known as the seed coats to¬ 
gether with the food material stored 
up within them for the nutrition of 
the plantlet. We shall learn more 
about these when the chapter on 
“Seeds and Seedlings” is reached. 

Pollen and fruit .—It is easy to 
demonstrate that this process of 
pollenization with the subsequent 
fertilization is necessary for the 
development of the fruit. Forcibly 
open the bud of any conspicuous flower, like the bouncing Betty, 
mandrake, or garden pea, pick out the anthers, and then inclose 
the bud, still attached to the plant, in a little paper bag or 
envelope. This will guarantee that no pollen from some other 



Fig. 164. —Diagram of fertilisa¬ 
tion. 





WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


241 


blossom will be carried to the pistil. Such blossoms will not pro¬ 
duce fruit. It would be well to try the experiment on several 
buds; in fact, each child in a grade might try the experiment, 
and then report on the results of his test. It would enhance the 
interest if several different sorts of plants were used. If several 
pods of garden peas are opened, there will be found, almost cer¬ 
tainly, one or more in which there are, in addition to the full- 
grown peas, some very diminutive objects which the children 
will promptly recognize as ovules that failed to develop. This, 
in all probability, is due to lack of proper fertilization. 

The egg .—The term “egg” will usually bring to the mind of 
the child the egg that is most familiar, the chick’s egg. This is 
rather unfortunate, for the egg 
of most animals and plants is 
a very small structure. In 
fact the real egg of the chick 
is small, since most of the 
material within the shell is 
only food for the developing 
embryo. If a hen’s egg is 
laid on the table for a few 
minutes, and the shell is then 
cut away from the upper part, 
the yolk will have floated up in such a position as to show, on 
its upper surface, a little circular speck of translucent jelly-like 
substance (Fig. 165). This is really the fleck of living matter, 
the germinal spot, from which, if fertilized, the young chick will 
grow. Yolk and white will be absorbed as food for the enlarging 
chick. This little germinal spot is quite comparable to the egg* 
that we are talking about in the ovule of the plant. 

Weed identification.—For convenience in identification the 
weeds may be divided into several wholly artificial groups on 
the basis of readily observed characteristics. This necessarily 
throws together wholly unrelated plants at times, but it will be 
convenient for the beginner. 



Fig. 165.—The chicken’s egg 



242 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


I. The Weeds with Milky Juice 

The common milkweed and the swamp milkweed as well as other 
less common species have, as the name implies, a milky juice. 
The common milkweed (Fig. 166) has stout stems two to five 
feet tall. The opposite leaves are thick, glossy, elliptic in shape, 
and have entire edges. The dull purplish-pink blossoms are in 



Fig. i66 .—Field milkweed 


clusters, like balls, both terminally and laterally. The pods are 
somewhat spindle-shaped in outline, three or four inches long, 
and are full of brown seeds tufted with silk. The swamp milk¬ 
weed has the same general habit, but the leaves are lance-shaped 
and the pods are slender and tapering. It usually grows in wet 
ground. There is another milkweed, the butterfly weed, with 
blossoms the most showy of all, but it does not have the milky 




WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


243 


juice, so will be noted below. Though only a weed, it frequently 
keeps company, in the window of the florist’s shop, with prouder 
pedigreed stock. 

Any one of these milkweed blossoms is no mean wonder. All 
are dependent on insects for pollination; bag the blossoms, even 
in coarse net, and they produce no seed. When the petals turn 
back in the opening flower there are disclosed, as the most 
conspicuous parts, five colored cornucopias that are veritable 
horns of plenty for the visiting bees, for they contain the nectar. 
Between each two nectar horns is 
a slit-shaped opening bordered with 
white and with a black dot at one 
end. Since the flower hangs down, 
the bee must cling to the cornucopia 
end, and as it turns around to thrust 
its sucking-tube first into one nectary, 
then into another, it is very liable to 
put a foot into one of these slits. The 
sticky pollen masses then adhere to it 
and so are carried to the next blos¬ 
som to be wiped off on the stigma. 

If you thrust a pin down into one of 
these slits on a mature flower so as to 
touch the black disk, it will stick to 
the pin as it is withdrawn, bringing with it the pair of club- 
shaped pollen masses. Sometimes the slit closes on the bee’s 
foot so tightly that it holds it fast in a deadly grip and the insect 
that came to sip nectar stays to die a lingering death. Flower 
clusters not infrequently give mute testimony of the imperfect 
operation of a usually effective device (Fig. 208). 

The dogbane (Fig. 167), a close relative of the milkweed, is 
also an insect hangman, though it does not look the part. The 
slender stem grows from one to three feet tall and the branches 
are reddish on their upper sides. The oval leaves are an inch 
or so in length and are borne in pairs. The flowers, in terminal 




Fig. i 68 .—Prickly lettuce 

between the barb and the filament and, unable to release them¬ 
selves, die hung upon the flower. All parts of the dogbane plant 
are poisonous to the taste. Apparently it is the dog that has 
suffered most from the baneful effects of the plant. 


244 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


or axillary clusters, are pretty pink bells with five points turned 
back from the margin. The anthers are shaped like arrowheads, 
and not uncommonly small insects get a leg or proboscis caught 









WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


245 



The Indian hemp is closely related to the dogbane. It is a 
sturdy, upright, branching plant, one to two feet tall. The 
leaves are opposite, twice the size of those of the dogbane. It 
yields a strong fiber that the aborigines used to make string. 

The dandelion , so common and so well known, is also a plant 
with milky juice. In spite of its abundance, over a hundred 
thousand pounds of the dried roots are imported annually into 
this country to be used in 
medicinal preparations. 

In this group are to be 
classed several plants with 
prickly leaves as well as 
milky juice. The prickles 
are confined to the midrib in 
the prickly lettuce (Fig. 168), 
a weed which, though only 
introduced into Massachu¬ 
setts in 1868, has already 
spread over much of the 
country. In the sow thistle 
the margins of the leaves 
bear weak prickles (Fig. 169). 

There are several species 
of lettuce with leaves cut like 
a dandelion leaf that do not bear prickles. These, as well as the 
prickly lettuce, are tall, slender plants four or five feet tall and 
usually grow in clumps. The upper ends of the leafy stems bear 
the sprays of flower heads that appear like diminutive dandelions. 

The spurges or euphorbias are graceful plants with rather 
small leaves and small white or pink stellate blossoms in clusters; 
separate flower stalks emanate from a common point or else fork 
freely to produce a much-branched candelabra (Fig. 170). The 
milky juice of all these spurges, of which there are several species, 
is irritating and very bitter; it blisters the skin and acts as an 
emetic when the plant is eaten by an animal. The spurges also 


Fig. 169.—Sow thistle (from Farm 
Weeds, American Steel and Iron Company). 




246 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


go under the name of wartworts, because the juice squeezed on a 
wart is supposed to be curative. “Lettuce is thought Poysonous, 
when it is so old as to have Milk, Spurge a kind of Poyson in 
itself; and as for Sow-Thistles, though Coneys eat them, yet 
sheep and Cattle will not touch them; and besides; the milk 
of them, rubbed upon Warts, in a short time weaieth them away” 
(. Bacon’s Natural History [1625]). The most poisonous of all 
the spurges, as also the most showy, is 
known as snow-on-the-mountain (Fig. 
171). It is naturally a western plant, 
growing from Minnesota to Texas, but 
has been introduced to eastern gardens. 
It has stout stems, two feet tall, that 
are usually grooved and hairy. The 
leaves are oblong. The flower clusters 
have below them whorls of green bracts, 
edged with white. Other parts about 
the flower clusters are white too, giving 
the plant a glistening appearance dur¬ 
ing the blossoming period. Even honey 
gathered from this plant is irritating, 
acting as an emetic and strong purge. 

II. The Weeds with Compound Leaves 

Poison ivy is one of the weeds that 
it is well to know early merely as a 
matter of self-protection (Fig. 172). Though, as the name 
implies, this is a climbing plant, it frequently appears merely 
as a low shrubby growth on the ground, sometimes forming 
immense beds. The leaf has three leaflets, ovate in outline, 
and in fruiting time the plant bears a cluster of white berries. 
The only plant that one is likely to confuse with it is the wood¬ 
bine, which also has a compound leaf with leaflets all spread¬ 
ing from a common point. But the woodbine has five leaflets 
instead of three and does not have the white berries. The white 






WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


247 


berries of the poison ivy or climbing sumac are very character¬ 
istic of another member of the sumac genus, the poison sumac , a 
shrub which grows in swampy places. Perhaps the very poison¬ 
ous character of these plants is sufficient excuse for carrying in 
mind the following bit of doggerel: 


Leaflets three, quickly flee! 
Berries white, dread the sight. 



whole plant, one-third natural size; 
b, seed capsule, natural size {Farm¬ 
ers' Bulletin No. 86). 



Fig. 172. —Pioson ivy {Rhus 
radicans): a, spray, showing aerial 
rootlets and leaves; b , fruit—both 
one-fourth natural size {Farmers' 
Bulletin No. 86). 


When the white berries are not on the poison sumac, it may be 
known from the other sumacs by its location and by the fact that 
it has terminal buds, which the others lack, and the leaf scars 
do not encircle the buds. 

Clover is a good illustration of a plant with compound leaves. 
There are usually three leaflets to each leaf, though the number 






248 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


is somewhat variable. The red clover is known to everyone, as 
are also several species of the white. The red and white are 
said to cross, the pollen of one fertilizing the other, and there 



Fig. 173.— Melilotus , white sweet clover 






WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


249 


is thus produced a clover with a pink bloom, the alsike clover, 
Trifolium hybridum. There is a closely related plant, the black 
medic , sometimes called hop clover, that forms dense mats on 
the ground and is therefore especially objectionable in lawns, 
where it crowds out the more valuable grasses. 

The sweet clover , or melilotus (Fig. 173), is a very widespread 
plant, formerly regarded as only a weed, now often planted for a 



Fig. 174.—Cow vetch 


crop. The plant has a typical clover leaf with three leaflets, but 
grows tall and is much branched. The white fragrant flowers 
grow in long slender clusters from the axils of the leaves. As they 
contain abundant nectar they are much visited by the honey 
bees. The yellow sweet clover is a smaller, more slender plant 
and the flowers are bright yellow. 

The vetch (Fig. 174) is another plant of this same family, the 
pulse family, that is occasionally a troublesome weed. The 







OUR LIVING WORLD 


250 

leaves are pinnately compound and end in tendrils. The stem is 
one to three feet long and tends to lie upon the ground. The 
flowers are purple-pink and grow in fairly good-sized clusters. 
The loco weed, a western member of this family, is much dreaded 



Fig. 175.—Wood sorrel 


by the ranchmen because it is poisonous and is responsible for 
the death of many thousands of cattle each year. 

Wood sorrel (Fig. 175) is a low-growing plant found commonly 
in woods and fields. It has a leaf something like ordinary clover, 
though the leaflets are heart-shaped because of a notch at the 
tip. The leaflets fold together down the middle also, especially 
at night, when they droop, cuddling together for sleep. The 




WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


251 


plant bears at almost all seasons of the year rather pretty yellow 
blossoms with five petals. It is known more commonly by 
the children as sour grass because the leaves have a pleasant acid 
flavor, though they act as a poison if eaten in quantity. 

Cinquefoil (Fig. 176) is a very common weed with blossoms 
much like a buttercup. As the name indicates there are ordi¬ 
narily five leaflets on the compound leaf. The plant is low, 



Fig. 176.—Cinquefoil 


usually prostrate; the flowers are solitary in the axils of the 
leaves. The rough cinquefoil has coarse and rough leaves with 
only three leaflets on each leaf and it grows more nearly upright. 
Still another has the undersides of the leaves covered with fine 
silky hairs which give a silvery appearance, so that the plant is 
known as silver cinquefoil. 

Queen Anne's lace (Fig. 177/) is a very common tall weed 
with leaves that are two or three times compounded; that is, 
the leaflets are compound and frequently the secondary leaflets 




252 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


are compound too. The leaves are large, mostly basal, and from 
the cluster there stands up a somewhat leafy flower stalk, bearing 




Fig. 177.—Weeds of the parsnip family: a, water hemlock; b, water parsnip; 
c, poison hemlock; d , cow parsnip; e, wild parsnip; /, wild carrot. 


a large cluster of white flowers. Before the flower cluster is 
completely open the marginal flowers are in-rolled, giving the 
whole the appearance of a bird’s nest, so that the plant is some- 




WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


2 53 


times known by this name. It is called Queen Anne’s lace 
because ol the lacy character of the leaves. It is known, too, as 
wild carrot, since it belongs to the same family as the cultivated 
carrot, the parsley family. 

The wild parsnip (Fig. 177c) also belongs to this same family. 
Its cluster of bloom on the end of the leafy stalk is yellow; 
the basal leaves are heart-shaped, those on the stem three- 
lobed. 

The poison hemlock (Fig. 177c) is another weed of the parsley 
family. The plant is from two to five feet high and has a stem 
that is smooth, upright, branched, and is yellow, spotted with 
purple. The compound leaves are found well up on the stem 
as well as at the base and are triply compound, making a lacy- 
leafed plant. The white flowers are in large terminal clusters. 
The plant has a disagreeable mousy odor that is distinctive. It 
was the juice of this plant that Socrates was forced to drink as 
a death potion in old Athens. 

The water hemlock (Fig. 177a) has a much more open cluster 
of blossoms and the compound leaves are not finely divided, 
while the leaflets are lance-shaped. Both these hemlocks are 
exceedingly poisonous, all parts of the plant being dangerous, 
especially the young foliage and the roots. 

III. Twining and Climbing Weeds 

The wild morning-glory (Fig. 178) is the name given indis¬ 
criminately to two vines, one with large blossoms, the other with 
smaller ones; both are pernicious weeds in grainfields, where they 
grow upon the grain stalks, bind them together, and smother 
them in abundant foliage. The plants are also known as the 
morning-glory bindweeds. 

The wild potato vine appears like a morning glory but some 
of the leaves are fiddle-shaped and there is a huge root, often 
weighing seven or eight pounds. 

The black bindweed (Fig. 179) has the appearance of a morning- 
glory vine, but the basal lobes of the leaves are not as flaring and 


! • 



Fig. 178.—Large morning-glory bindweed 



Fig. 170.—Wild buckwheat or black bindweed 








WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


2 55 


the blossoms are inconspicuous, borne in clusters that come from 
the axils of the leaves. It is also known as wild buckwheat, as 
its seeds resembles this grain. 

The passion flower (Fig. 180) is a 
common trailing vine in the South. 

The leaves are palmately triply cleft 
and have tendrils coming out of their 
axils. The handsome blossoms, one 
on a stalk, also come from the same 
points. The egg-shaped fruit is about 
two inches long, and when dead ripe 
pops on slight pressure; hence the other 
common name of the plant, Maypop. 

Dodder (Fig. 181) is a curious weed bearing no leaves. As it 

climbs up other plants it ap¬ 
pears like masses of orange- 
yellow or reddish-yellow 
strings. It is a parasite and 
thrusts blunt rootlike pro¬ 
cesses into the tissue of the 
host from which it gets its 
food. The plant bears clus¬ 
ters of small yellow bloom 
and fruits abundantly. One 
species of dodder is parasitic 
on clover and is spread en¬ 
tirely by impure seed, the 
seed of the dodder being 
mixed with the clover seed, 
which it much resembles. 
When the plant appears in 
any crop, the latter should 
be pulled up and burned, 
together with the attached dodder, for it is a scourge to be 
dreaded. 




Fig. 180.—Passion flower 







256 OUR LIVING WORLD 

IV. Weeds That Lie Low, Forming Mats on the Ground 

Knotweed (Fig. 182), which grows about the door and in 
pathways, is a thick, matted plant, often known as doormat. 
The stems are prostrate, growing from four to twenty-four 
inches long. The smaller branches arise from the nodes or 
joints, which are swollen and look like knots tied in a string. 
The leaves are bluish green; the flowers are small and very 



inconspicuous. As it seems to thrive best where it is frequently 
tramped on, it presumably can stand treatment which would 
kill an ordinary plant. This is a good illustration of adaptation 
to a particular environment, the plant occupying what would 
otherwise be unoccupied territory. 

The common chickweed (Fig. 183) is easily recognized by the 
numerous small, white, star-shaped flowers. The leaves are 
opposite, a half-inch in length and ovate in shape. The Indian 






WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


*57 


chickweed, or whorled chickweed, has whorls of five or six 
stemless leaves at each node. From the nodes there also spring 
the small flowers, without petals, but whose sepals are white 
inside and green outside. 

Purslane (Fig. 184), or wild portulaca, has succulent, stemless 
leaves, wedge-shaped, with rounded tips. The plant’s stems 



and leaves often have a reddish tinge. Even when pulled and 
thrown aside the plant continues to blossom and bear seed, as 
the thick leaves furnish enough moisture and nutrition to mature 
the seed even under such disadvantageous conditions. 

Low amaranth (Fig. 185) lies prostrate on the ground. Its 
stems are slightly ridged and spread out from the root of the 
plant in all directions from six to twenty-four inches. The root 
is pink, so that the plant is sometimes known as the low pinkroot. 
There are spiny bracts at the bases of the leaves where the 
inconspicuous flowers are nestled. 




25» 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The ground ivy (Fig. 186) or gill-over-the-ground is a plant 
with round or kidney-shaped, scalloped leaves. The flowers 
grow in small clusters in the axils of the leaves and are two-lipped, 



Fig. 184.—Purslane 



Fig. 185.—Low amaranth 

as are so many flowers of plants in the mint family, to which this 
belongs. 

The creeping mallow (Fig. 187) is another low-growing plant 
bearing rounded leaves with wavy margins. The flowers are pink 






Fig. 186.—Ground ivy 



Fig. 187.—Cheese weed 











26 o 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


and the fruit is button-shaped. There are usually many of these 
fruits on each plant. They are sweet and are often called 
cheeses ’ by the children. The plant is sometimes known as 
the cheese weed or the shirt-button plant. 

Bedstraw (Fig. 188) is a creeping plant with harsh yet slender 
stems and leaves that grow in whorls of six or eight at each node. 

The leaves are often bristly and the 
stems are roughened with tiny prick¬ 
ers which are felt more readily than 
seen. The fruits are tiny globular 
burs that are troublesome to wool- 
growers. The dry plants make good 
bedding. 

Mullein (Fig. 189) is one of many 
weeds that lie close to the ground 
and that have the leaves arranged 
in rosette form; its leaves are also 
thickly covered with hair. From 
the center of its rosette there arises, 
in the second year of growth, a tall 
flower stalk, leafy at its base and 
bearing hundreds of close-set yellow 
flowers at its top. Both the hair 
and the rosette habit of the leaves are 
excellent devices to protect against 
the cold of the early spring nights; 
and this is one of the first plants to 
appear in the pastures in the spring. 
Common plantain (Fig. 190) is another plant with rosette-leaf 
arrangement. The leaves are ovate in outline with entire 
edges. Running through the leaf stalk are several fibrous 
bundles which are very tough, so that if the stalk is broken these 
usually remain intact and pull out like strong twine. The 
inconspicuous flowers are borne upon a tall spike, a foot or so high 
in good soil. The seed stalks are often given to canaries, so that 





IVA YSIDE FLOWERS 


261 


the plant is also commonly known as birdseed. This weed 
followed so closely on the footsteps of the white man in this 
country that the Indians called it “white man’s foot.” 
Wheresoe’er they tread, beneath them 
Springs a flower unknown among us, 

Springs the white man’s foot in blossom.— Hiawatha. 



Fig. 189.—Mullein 


Its crushed leaf is also good for healing wounds, a natural shin- 
plaster. Thus Romeo recommends it in Shakespeare’s Romeo 
and Juliet (Act I, scene 2): 

Romeo: Your plantain-leaf is excellent for that. 

Benvolio: For what, I pray thee ? 

Romeo: For your broken shin. 




262 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The ribwort (Fig. 191) is a close relative of the plantain, but 
its leaves are matted rather than arranged in rosettes, while the 
flower stalk bears a cone-shaped mass of bloom at its upper end. 
The leaves too are narrow, veined with cross-veins. It is also 
called English plantain or buckhorn. 



Fig. 190.—Common plantain 


Several of the docks and the dandelion have the rosette habit. 
The latter has been spoken of under the weeds with milky juice. 
The former have long, narrow leaves, often a foot long and two 
inches wide. In the commonest species the edges of the leaves 
are crinkly; hence the name of curly dock (Fig. 192). The 
blossom stalk, leafy-branched, rises from the rosette to a height 
of from two to five or six feet. The blossoms are inconspicu¬ 
ous, but the fruits are very striking if seen in mass, especially 
as they change from green to brown. Each fruit is a seed sur¬ 
rounded by a corky rim that enables it to float on the spring rain 




WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


263 


runnels to some new location for germination. Each species of 
dock has a characteristic fruit, sketches of several of which are 
shown in Fig. 193. 



Fig. 191.—Ribwort, or narrow-leaved plantain (Kentucky Agricultural Experi¬ 
ment Station, Bulletin No. 183). 


V. Weeds with Prickles or Thorns on the Stems, Leaves, 
or Fruits 

The Russian thistle (fig. 194) is one of the most troublesome 
of weeds, that was unintentionally introduced into this country 
by Russian immigrants in the great Northwest in 1873. When 
young there is no indication of its spiny character and the leaves 




264 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


are long and slender; but as the plant matures the stem grows 
woody, red-streaked, and becomes much branched, so that the 
plant spreads out. The first leaves fall off and the later ones are 
short, are broad at the base, more or less spiny, and have a sharp- 
pointed bract on each side. The flowers are inconspicuous and 
the seeds are very small. The plant breaks loose from the root 
in the autumn and as the round top is driven, tumbling over the 
ground, by the wind it shakes out its seeds. The succulent parts 

of the plant afford nutriment for 
the continued ripening of the seeds, 
so that for some time after the plant 
is apparently dry and barren it forms 
and scatters seed. It is best to get 
acquainted with this plant in the 
fall, when it is easily recognized 
from the characters given, and then 
to observe, the following summer, 
the transition from the soft-leaved 
stage to the spiny plant. The Rus¬ 
sian thistle is not a thistle at all, 
but is more nearly related to our 
amaranth and lamb’s-quarters. 

The true thistles belong to the 
composite family, and their best- 
known representative is the spear 
or bull thistle. It is a widespread 
biennial, producing, the first year, a 
rosette of deeply cut leaves, the pinnately arranged lobes armed 
with strong spines. The upper surfaces of the leaves are deep 
green while the undersides are covered with a brown wool 
which disappears as the plant grows older. The second year 
there appears a branching stem, three or four feet high, on 
which are borne several urn-shaped heads of purplish flowers, 
the bases of the urns being covered with spiny bracts. This 
bull thistle (Fig. 195) is the national flower of Scotland. More 



Fig. 102.—Curly dock 





WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


265 




Britannica ; b, fruit of the yellow dock, Rumex crispus ; c, fruit of the pale dock, 
Rumex altissimus; d, fruit of the swamp dock, Rumex verticillatus\ e, fruit of 
the bitter dock, Rumex obtusifolius. 



Fig. 194.—Russian thistle 








266 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


than a thousand years ago, so the story has it, when the Danes 
were attempting to capture a Scotch coast town one night, a 
Danish soldier stepped on a thistle and his cry of pain gave 
warning of the attempted surprise, so that the Scots were ready 
to repulse the attack. 

The Canada thistle (Fig. 196) is somewhat similar in general 
appearance, but it is by no means So sturdy a plant. Its stems 



Fig. 195. —The bull thistle 



Fig. 196.—Canada thistle 


are weaker, the leaves are not so coarse, and the heads of bloom 
are smaller and grow in clusters. Each flower cluster is only 
half an inch across, while those of the bull thistle are two inches 
broad. 

The buffalo bur (Fig. 197) is a plant belonging to the potato 
family. The stem, which is one to two feet high, is branched and 
hairy and is covered, as is also the fruit, with long yellow spines. 
The leaves are pinnately segmented, suggesting somewhat the 









WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


267 


bur-oak leaf. The yellow flowers are wheel-shaped and nearly 
an inch broad. 

Horse nettle (Fig. 198), or apple of Sodom, is a close relative of 
the buffalo bur and also has a hairy branched stem with numerous 
yellow spines upon it; but its leaves are ovate in outline, toothed, 
or sometimes deeply cut, its flowers are pale violet and star¬ 
shaped, and its fruit is an orange-colored berry. 

The spiny amaranth is a weed one to four feet tall, branching 
and bushy, with a stout, grooved, 
green or purplish stem. The 
leaves are lance-shaped, pointed 
at both ends. At the base of 
each leaf is a pair of spines, very 
stiff and very sharp. The small 
greenish flowers are in terminal 
and axillary spikes. The tiny 
seeds are shining brown and 
lens-shaped. 

Cocklebur, or clotbur (Fig. 

199), has no prickles except on 
the fruit, which, however, is usu¬ 
ally abundant and is as large as 
the last joint of the finger, ellip¬ 
tical in outline, and covered with 
strong, hooked spines. The 
coarse plant is branched and the 
three-lobed oval leaves become 
rough and thick as they grow older, 
or five feet tall. 

The spiny clotbur is a much-branched plant covered with 
whitish hairs. The upper leaves are lance-shaped, entire, and 
have the under surface covered with whitish wool; the lower 
leaves are lobed and all have yellow spines at the base. 

There are several plants besides the cockleburs that are 
spineless except for the fruit. The sand bur (Fig. 200) is a grass 



Fig. 197. —Buffalo bur (Farmers' 
Bulletin No. 28). 


The plant often grows four 


268 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


whose fruits are armed with half a dozen sharp spines. This 
grows in sandy places and is an exceedingly uncomfortable 
roadside weed in midsummer and autumn. 

Burdock (Fig. 201) is a coarse weed with immense heart- 
shaped basal leaves, often a foot or more in length. The stem, 
which is much branched, grows to a height of eight or nine feet 



in good soil. The old flower clusters occurring at the upper ends 
of the stalks change into round burs protected by spiny bracts. 
Children use these to make baskets and various articles of doll 
furniture. 

In the Spanish needles and beggar-ticks (Fig. 202) the fruits 
only are armed with spines. The stem of the latter is from one 
to five feet high, smooth and branching. The leaves are opposite, 
the lower ones five-lobed, so that they look like compound leaves. 
The yellowish flowers are in daisy-like heads. The fruits are 




WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


269 


wedge-shaped, flat, and black, and the broad outer end bears 
the two spreading barbed spines. The Spanish needle is a very 
close relative of the beggar-tick; it grows in drier soil and the 
leaves are pinnately two or three times divided. The fruits are 
brown and are about three-fourths of an inch long (Fig. 203). 
The four angles each bear a short, barbed spine. 

Hound’s-tongue (Fig. 204) has fruits that are oval in outline, 
flattened, and covered with 
short, heavy spines, the only 
part of the plant that is spiny. 

The fruit is somewhat the shape 
of a dog’s tongue, which ac¬ 
counts for the name. The four 
fruits stand on a disk, the sharp 
ends together, the broad ends 
turned down and out. The 
leaves are lance-shaped with 
heart-shaped bases and are stem¬ 
less or nearly so. The blossoms 
are clustered and are reddish 
purple, with an odor like that of 
decomposing meat; both color 
and odor are attractive to flies 
that help pollinate the plant. 

In Jimson weed (Fig. 205) the 
seed pod is the only part that 
bears prickers. It is another 
very strong plant, often growing 
to be three or four feet high and so branching as to cover con¬ 
siderable ground. The leaves are alternate, from three to eight 
inches long, oval in outline, but irregularly cut and toothed. 
The white trumpet-shaped flowers, three or four inches long, are 
solitary and grow on short stems. The mouth of the trumpet 
is flaring and five-lobed. The purple thorn apple is a very close 
relative and quite similar, but the stems are deep purple and the 



Fig. 199.—Leaf and one fruit of 
cocklebur. 






Fig. 200.—Sand bur 



Fig. 201. —Large-leaved dock or burdock 






WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


271 


VI. Weeds with Simple 
Leaves That Are 
Opposite 

For convenience of identi¬ 
fication this group may be 
subdivided into (a) weeds 
with simple opposite leaves 
with entire (i.e., not toothed 
or lobed) margins; (6) weeds 
with simple opposite leaves 
that are toothed or lobed on 
the margins. 

A. LEAF MARGINS ENTIRE 



lips of the trumpet-shaped flowers are violet or lavender. The 
prickly capsule is also purple. This plant has a disagreeable 
odor, as does the Jimson weed, and both of them are poisonous, 
especially the flowers and the seeds, if taken into the mouth. 
They are not poisonous to the 
touch. 


Umbrellawort is a plant 
that is especially common 
along railroads. It grows 
from one to three feet high 
and has angled, forking stems 
and heart-shaped leaves with 
tapering tips. The red bell¬ 
shaped flowers occur in both 
lateral and terminal clusters 
and there is a five-lobed involucre like a collar growing below 
each two or three flowers. Several closely allied species have 
narrower leaves. 

Soapwort or bouncing Betty (Fig. 159) is an escaped garden 
plant known also as wild sweet William. It is a perennial with 


Fig. 202.—Beggar-tick in blossom 




272 


OUR LIVING WORLD 




Fig. 203. 
—Beggar- 
tick fruit. 


stout stems a foot or two high. The ovate leaves are an inch 
' wide and two or three times as long and have three to five strong 

ribs. The flowers 
are in large terminal 
clusters, pink to 
white. The corolla 
consists of five pet¬ 
als, the conspicuous 
part of each is 
heart-shaped and 
bears a long narrow 
claw. The juice of 
the plant makes 
lather with water 
and was used for cleaning pur¬ 
poses before soap was so uni¬ 
versally available. 

Corn cockle (Fig. 206) is a 
hairy plant one to three feet 
high with linear or narrow 
lance-shaped leaves. The 
showy flowers, looking like wild 
pinks, are one to three inches 
broad and are bright red. The 
narrow lobes of the calyx extend 
out beyond the corolla. The 
weed is particularly obnoxious 
in grainfields. 

The bladder catchfly (Fig. 
207), or campion, is another 
plant that bears blossoms look¬ 
ing like a pink. It grows to be 
about a foot high, branches, 
and bears lance-shaped leaves, sometimes reverse-lance-shaped, 
and white flowers. As the plant matures the inflated calyx 


Fig. 204.—Hound’s-tongue 










WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


273 


which surrounds the fruit dries and incloses the pod that 
rattles against it in the wind. The plant is known therefore as 
the devil’s rattlebox. 

The white campion , red campion, and ragged robin all have 
similar inflated calyxes. They look quite like the catchflies, 



ers 1 Bulletin No. 86 ). Fig. 206.—Corn cockle 


but have five styles, while the latter has but three. In the 
ragged robin, the pink or blue petals are cleft into four linear 
lobes, giving the flower a ragged appearance. Many species of 
the catchflies, too, have sticky exudations on the stems at the 
joints which prevent crawling insects from reaching the flowers 
and robbing them of the nectar secreted to attract the flying 




274 


CUR LIVING WORLD 


insects which alone carry the pollen successfully to other plants 
of the same species. 

The butterfly weed is a milkweed without the milky juice. 
The great clusters of brilliant orange flowers, each with the 
typical shape of a milkweed blossom (Fig. 208), make the plant 

conspicuous when in bloom; at 
other times it is not likely to at¬ 
tract attention. 

B. LEAF MARGINS TOOTHED OR LOBED 

The stinging nettle is a weed two 
to four feet tall, densely covered 




Fig. 208.—Milkweed blossom 


with stinging hairs. The thin leaves are ovate and have a heart- 
shaped base, while the margins are coarsely saw-toothed. The 
small flowers are in axillary, feathery clusters. Several other 
species are smaller and more slender and are not as well pro¬ 
vided with the stinging hairs. Still, as one old English author 
naively remarks, the nettles are plants that one of sensitive skin 
can find even in the dark. 

Vervain (Fig. 209), a moderately tall plant growing from one 
to several feet high, has a four-sided branched stem that is 
usually hairy. The leaves are ovate, coarsely serrate, or, in some 






WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


275 



species, cut more or less deeply into lobes, and are also hairy. 
The flowers grow in terminal spikes and are purple or blue, or 
paler, even white. The vervains are plants with mystic prop¬ 
erties, supposed to act as charms in cases of love; the plants were 
always ingredients of the 
witches’ caldron and are still 
used to make the bride’s 
wreath in Germany. “ Ver¬ 
vain is used in casting lots, 
telling fortunes, and fore¬ 
shadowing future events by 
way of prophesie. Of all 
Hearbes there is none more 
honored among the Romans 
than the sacred plant Ver- 
vaine” (from an old English 
translation of Pliny). 

Wild hemp (Fig. 210), 
quite different from the In¬ 
dian hemp previously de¬ 
scribed, is a rough, branching 
plant, three to ten feet tall, 
with both opposite and alter¬ 
nate leaves, which appear 
palmately compound, the cut¬ 
ting is so deep. There are five 
to eleven lobes springing from 
a common point and each lobe is narrow and coarsely toothed. 
The flowers are in elongate axillary clusters and the fruits look 
like spikes of grain or grass seed. 

The giant ragweed (Fig. 211) is so familiar that it needs no 
description, its picture serving quite well for identification. 


Fig. 209.—Blue vervain 


VII. Weeds with Strong Odor 

Wild onion (Fig. 212), leek , and garlic are a trio not easily 
mistaken, for the odor of each is characteristic. The wild leek 




276 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


has leaves that are relatively wide, an inch or more, while both 
the others have linear leaves. The leaves of the onion are 
sharply keeled. The flower cluster of the garlic bears few 
blossoms but is crowded with tiny bulbs. 

Western yarrow (Fig. 213) is a plant with a rosette of narrow, 
lanceolate leaves that are much dissected so as to be feathery. 
The flower stalk, which is leafy, rises from the basal rosette to 
a height of a foot or two and bears a flat-topped cluster of 

white composite bloom. The 
odor is distinctly like that 
of tansy , which it much re¬ 
sembles; but in tansy the 
blossoms are yellow. In 
England country maidens 
sleep with a spray of tansy 
under the pillow believing it 
will bring them dreams of 
their true lovers. 

Dog fennel (Fig. 214) is 
also a composite. The yel¬ 
low flower clusters are daisy¬ 
like; the leaves are much 
dissected and the odor is 
rank and disagreeable. 
The juice is very acrid and 
may produce sores on the 
skin. 

The Jimson weed and hound’s-tongue, both of which have 
disagreeable odors, have been noted above under the weeds that 
have prickles. Stinking Willie, as the name indicates, has a 
disagreeable odor. It is not a very widely distributed plant 
in this country as yet. The stem is two or three feet tall, 
grooved and leafy; the leaves are lance-shaped and much 
dissected; the flowers are golden yellow and grow in terminal 
clusters that are about an inch broad. The plant is distinguished 



Fig. 210.—Wild hemp 







WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


277 


from the dog fennel, which it resembles, as the flower head of 
the latter is not more than half an inch across. 

Peppermint (Fig. 215) has opposite leaves and a square stem 
and the familiar odor of peppermint. The leaves are stalked, 
lance-shaped, with toothed edges; the flowers are in fluffy 
terminal spikes, purple and rather showy. 



Fig. 211. —Giant ragweed (from Farm Weeds , American Steel and Iron 
Company). 

Spearmint (Fig. 216) also has opposite leaves and a square 
stem, but the leaves are without stalks or nearly so, are more 
tapering at the base and more coarsely toothed; the flowers are 
more densely crowded in the spikes. 

Horehound (Fig. 217) has stout square stems that are woolly 
with white hairs. The leaves are opposite and oval and have 
rather coarsely scalloped edges. The flowers, which are nearly 





278 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


white, grow in dense clusters in the axils of the leaves. The 
points of the calyx lobes become hooked spines as the ovaries 
ripen into the fruits, which are little nutlets. 

American pennyroyal (Fig. 218) has clusters of blue blossoms 
in the axils of the small, obovate, coarsely toothed leaves. The 
weak stems are square and covered with soft hairs. 



Fig. 212.—Wild onion in blossom 


In catnip (Fig. 219), or catmint, the stem is stout and square; 
the leaves are opposite and heart-shaped, edged with rounded 
teeth. The flowers are in terminal spikes, pale lilac or white in 
color and dotted with pale purple. Cats eat it with relish and 
roll in it with evident satisfaction. 

There are many more mints than are given here, but these 
are the ones that are most commonly encountered as weeds. No 
plants are possessed of more distinctive odors than these, and 
they may well be used as a means of training the sense of smell. 
Try distinguishing the plants merely by their odors; even the 




WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


279 


dry specimens will give off their characteristic perfumes if 
slightly moistened by breathing on them. 



VIII. The Grasses 

Crab grass (Fig. 220), in good soil, has stems that are one or 
more feet in length that take root wherever the joints touch 
the ground. The leaf blade is three to 
six inches long and is hairy at the base. 
The flowers and fruits are in spikes that 
are clustered in a whorl at the end of the 


Fig. 213.—Western yarrow Fig. 214.—Dog fennel 

stalk, somewhat like the ribs of an umbrella on the handle. 
The grass is sometimes called umbrella grass. 

Old witch grass (Fig. 221) is one or two feet high. The 
sheathing base of the leaf is very hairy, the blade itself is less so 
and is about six to twelve inches long. The tuft of bloom when 
young comes out in a broomlike mass half the length of the plant, 
the witch’s broom. Later the flower cluster spreads and the 
stems become very stiff and brittle. This whole much-branched 
stalk, with the seeds on the terminal branchlets, breaks loose in 
the fall and goes tumbling before the wind, dropping seeds 
frequently. 








28 o 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Spreading panicum is a coarse grass with stout, flattened stems 
that at first are erect and one or two feet tall, but later they 




Fig. 215.—Peppermint 


Fig. 216.—Spearmint 



Fig. 217.—Horehound 



Fig. 218.—Pennyroyal 


grow to a length of four to six feet and lie down on the ground 
more or less with their tips turned up. The leaf blades are six 








WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


281 


to eighteen inches long and about a quarter-inch wide; the edges 
are rough, as is also the central vein. The flowers are in wide- 
spreading, much-branched, pyramidal terminal clusters. 

Barnyard grass, or cockspur grass (Fig. 222),. has stems 
from two to five feet tall. The blades are smooth, often as 
much as two feet long and a half to one inch wide. The seeds 




Fig. 219.—Catnip 


Fig. 220.—Crab grass 


are borne in green or purple spikelets that are densely crowded 
in two to four rows near the end of the main stalk. 

The foxtail grasses are readily recognized for the flowers, and 
later the seeds are borne in terminal spikes much like those of 
the familiar timothy, but they are very bristly with hairs that 
extend out beyond the points of the seeds. 

Squirreltail grass (Fig. 223) has very much longer hairs or 
bristles that stick out many times the length of the fruits. 
















282 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


These bristles in hay are a source of trouble, making ulcerating 
sores in the mouths of cattle. 

Vanilla grass, or holy grass, has a distinct odor like vanilla in 
all parts of the plant, which it retains even when dried; it was 



Fig. 221.—Old witch grass, or spreading panicum 


much used therefore by the Indians in their basketry. The grass 
was also used to scatter in front of the churches on special 
festivals, so that it might give off its pleasant odor as the 
worshipers walked over it. 

Chess, or cheat, is one of the most troublesome of the grasses 
that infest the grainfields. The seed of the grass is commonly 




WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


283 


sown along with the grain, which it much resembles. The stems 
are two or three feet tall; the flat leaves are hairy above but 
smooth below. The flower cluster is an open one, and when later 
it fruits the branches droop and end in little spikelets containing 
from five to fifteen seeds that look something like oats. 

Quack grass (Fig. 224), or couch grass, is perhaps the worst 
weed of the entire grass tribe. The rootstocks are found near 
the surface of the ground and interlace, forming a dense mat. 



Fig. 222.—Barnyard grass 


Tney are jointed, yellow between joints, and branch freely. If 
they are cut up by hoeing or cultivation each segment is ca¬ 
pable of producing a new plant. The stems are two or three 
feet tall, yellow at the base, and bear pale-green leaves that are 
smooth below and rough above. The sheaths are smooth and 
shorter than the internodes. The spike of fruit is erect, three 
to eight inches long, and is made up of numerous unstalked 
spikelets, alternately arranged in the notches of the zigzag 
main stalk. 









Fig. 225.—Butter and eggs 


Fig. 226.—New England aster 


















WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


285 


IX. Weeds with Simple Leaves, and These Alternate 

The weeds of this description, for convenience in identifica¬ 
tion, may be subdivided into three groups: (a) those with leaves 
having entire or smooth edges; ( b ) those with toothed edges; 
(c) those with deeply cut edges. 

A. LEAVES WITH ENTIRE OR SMOOTH EDGES 

Butter and eggs (Fig. 225), or toadflax, has pale green leaves 
that are linear or at least very 
narrow and are crowded on the 
upright stems; the latter are 
usually a foot or so high, but 
may grow to two or three times 
this height. The flowers, which 
grow in terminal racemes, have 
a corolla in two shades of yel¬ 
low, that of butter and of egg 
yolk. It is irregular, two¬ 
lipped, and the throat is closed. 

This is one of the flowers re¬ 
served for the bumblebees and 
such heavy insects. When the 
animal alights on the lower lip 
it pulls it down and so gains 
access to the nectary. Can you 
see how the arrangement of 
stamens and pistil insures the 
transfer of the pollen from 
blossom to blossom ? 

The goldenrods are most readily recognized by their clumps 
of bright golden-yellow flower heads that make such brilliant 
roadsides in late summer or early fall. With these are associated 
many species of asters (Fig. 226), plants with numerous heads 
of bluish to white marginal flowers and yellow central ones 
which make them daisy-like in general appearance, but the 
heads, instead of growing singly as in the daisy (Fig. 227), grow 





286 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


in clusters on the upright leafy stalks. There are so many 
different species of these plants that the student must consult 
some of the books listed at the end of the chapter to make exact 
determinations. These are so numerous and so attractive in the 
fall at the time school opens that some may be noted without 

taking pains to find out the 
name of the particular one 
that is studied. 

Composites .—Such plants 
have been spoken of as mem¬ 
bers of the family Compos- 
itae. The individual flowers 
are so tiny that they would 
be invisible if they bloomed 
alone, so they unite in com¬ 
panies or societies and stand 
together to make a brave ap¬ 
pearance. Some weeds, like 
the grasses, have flowers that 
few people notice and that 
probably the insects seldom 
see; but such plants produce 
so much pollen in their flowers 
that they can rely on the 
wind to carry some of it to a 
neighboring blossom to ferti¬ 
lize, so that each flower may get its share. Other weeds, like 
the corn cockle or bouncing Betty, have large enough blossoms 
to make a showing and to attract the insects to them, both 
because of their bright colors and their sweet nectar. It is 
always interesting to study a flower to see if one can find out how 
it is fitted to profit by the visit of the particular insect that 
visits it most regularly. Such plants as goldenrods and asters 
rely on the joint efforts of the many associated flowers to attract 
the necessary insects, and one need only sit down beside a plant 







WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


287 


and watch to see how many insect visitors it has in a few minutes 
to realize that these plants have successfully met the situation. 
In the goldenrods just a few flowers have joined together in a 
single household and are inclosed together in a little green 
thatched home. Dozens and hundreds of these stand in rows 
on the streets of the goldenrod city that 
makes so conspicuous a showing on the 
top of the leafy stem. In each household 
there is also a division of labor, a division 
that is even more apparent in such a 
flower head as that of the aster or the 
sunflower. The flowers along the margin 
of the group are mostly for show and 
each bears a strap-shaped banner of 
brilliant color, really the corolla split 
open and spread out. The flowers at 
the center of the group, less showy but 
more essential, bear the stamens and 
pistil which the ray flowers frequently 
lack. 

Smartweed (Fig. 228) has narrow lance¬ 
shaped leaves with entire margins. The 
leaves are sessile or nearly so, and stipules 
on the base of each leaf sheathe the stem. 

The stems are weak. The flowers are 
borne in terminal spikes and are greenish 
white to pink or even deep red, especially 
in the bud. The common smartweed, 
which has greenish flowers, grows in moist ground. One other 
species, with bright pink flowers, often has its leaves marked 
with crescentic reddish to purplish spots which look like bruises 
made by the pinch of a thumb. It is commonly known as 
lady’s-thumb. 

Sheep sorrel (Fig. 229), or sour grass, sometimes known also 
as sour dock, is a low plant with many halberd-shaped leaves 






288 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


coming out near the ground and lance-shaped ones farther up the 
weak, reddish stem. The flower cluster is branching, reddish, 
and relatively inconspicuous, except when the plant grows in 
masses, when the red glows on the ground. The plant indicates 
a sour soil and often grows on “ worn-out ” fields, fields that 
need liming and cultivation to make them productive. 

Pokeweed (Fig. 230) is a good-sized smooth plant with an 
unpleasant odor. The stalks are five or six feet high usually 
but may be double this in good soil. The leaves are lance¬ 
shaped; the flowers are white, five- or six-lobed, and borne in 



Fig. 230. —Pokeweed ( Farmers' Bulletin No. 188) 


terminal racemes. As the plant grows these become lateral 
opposite the leaves. The drooping fruit consists of clusters of 
dark-purple berries with ten seeds. Their juice is red and is the 
source of the red ink that is a resource in the plays of children. 
The root is very poisonous to taste and the berries are sickening. 

The rough pigweed (Fig. 231), or amaranth, also known as 
pinkroot, is one of the most common of weeds. The stem is 
stout, tough, and upright, and is one to six feet high and some¬ 
times more. The plant is much branched and is hairy; the 
ovate leaves are three to six inches long and have conspicuous 
ribs and veins and are stalked. In the axils of these leaves 


WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


289 


occur dense clusters of flowers, each cluster having at its base 
three prickly bracts. The flowers are small and greenish and 
each produces a single jet-black, shiny seed, which is a flattened 
oval. The root is large and pink on the exterior, which gives the 
plant one of its names. 

B. LEAVES WITH TOOTHED EDGES 

Lamb's-quarters (Fig. 232) is perhaps the commonest of 
several weeds belonging to the genus Clienopodium. It is also 
known as pigweed, for both 
pigs and sheep will eat it 
when it is young. The stem 
is usually from two to four 
feet high, is branched and 
grooved, and is often striped 
with pink or purple. The 
upper leaves are narrow and 
lance-shaped, with margins 
that are somewhat irregu¬ 
larly cut and toothed, while 
the lower leaves are broadly 
ovate, often three-lobed and 
somewhat in the shape of a ^ ™ . , 

goose’s foot, whence the plant 

gets another of its common names, goosefoot. The flowers are 
small and green, crowded in clusters that terminate the branches; 
the seed is lens-shaped, small, and black. Two other weeds, not 
as sturdy as lamb’s-quarters, belong to this same genus. They 
are the spreading and halberd-leaved orache. They are half-erect 
or prostrate plants, the former with lance-shaped leaves that are 
sparingly wavy-toothed, the latter with halberd-shaped leaves, 
at least at the base of the plant. All these plants are subject 
to blights, which may readily be transferred to such cultivated 
plants as spinach and beets. 

Nightshade (Fig. 233) is a plant one to two feet high with a 
rather slender branching stem. The leaves are ovate and have 





2 go 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


slim, grooved stalks. Sometimes their margins are entire, but 
usually they are wavy-toothed. The flowers are white, in small 
axillary clusters, and look like potato blossoms, for the plan.t 
belongs to the potato family. The fruit is a purple berry that is 
likely to cause severe nausea if eaten. 

The evening primrose (Fig. 162) is a tall, rather slender, plant, 
sometimes, however, branched so as to be wide-spreading. The 



Fig. 232.—Looking down on a bed of lamb’s-quarters 


root leaves are lance-shaped, long, hairy, and only slightly 
toothed. The upper leaves are much smaller and have no stems. 
The root leaves appear as a rosette one year and the rest of the 
plant does not grow until the second year ordinarily. The 
showy flowers are axillary and have sepals that turn back and a 
corolla that is borne on the ovary. The seed pods are an inch 
or so long, four-angled, and begin to open by splitting at the top. 
It is interesting to estimate the number of seeds on a single nlanr 






WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


291 


by counting the number in several pods to get an average 
and then counting the number of pods on a good-sized plant in 
the fall. 

Only insects with very long sucking-tubes can get the nectar 
from a blossom with such a long slender tube as has this evening 
primrose. You may catch the one that is served by this flower 
and that in turn serves the flower by carrying the pollen; it is a 
yellow moth with pink markings on 
the wings, and like most of the moths 
it flies only at dusk or by night. The 
evening primrose therefore opens late 
in the afternoon, or on cloudy days it 
may open early. After the flower is 
pollinated by the moth it closes and 
begins to wither. If you will tear 
open the withered blossoms that were 
open the previous evening the moth 
may be found a prisoner, for it stays 
drinking like a toper until after clos¬ 
ing hours, and thus remains a prisoner 
until it forces its way out for the next 
evening’s revels. It may occasionally 
be found in the unclosed blossoms 
also, and its larva is to be seen on 
the buds and young blossoms which it 
riddles with the holes it eats in them. 

The giant willow herb, or fireweed, is another tall plant, two 
to six feet in height; it is somewhat woody and the stem is 
reddish at the base. The leaves are narrow and lance-shaped, 
sometimes entire, though usually minutely toothed. The 
flower cluster is a showy raceme with the blossoms varying in 
color from purple to white. There are four petals, twice as many 
stamens, and a four-parted stigma. The change in the relative 
position of the parts of the flower during fertilization makes an 
interesting study. Until the stamens have discharged their 



Fig. 233.—Black nightshade 
{Farmers' Bulletin No. 86). 



292 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


pollen the sticky stigma is not exposed. When the stamens no 
longer bear pollen they turn back out of the way and the pistil 
brings the now open stigma into such position that a visiting 
insect must rub off on it the pollen he has acquired in some other 
blossom. The plant is one of the first to appear in burned forest 
land and often covers hundreds of acres with its brilliant bloom. 

Gaura is a closely related plant that 
looks much like the fireweed but is of 
wider distribution, though it does not 
occur in such masses. The hairy flower 
stalk, two to four feet tall and woody 
when mature, rises from a rosette of 
lance-shaped leaves that are pointed at 
both ends and slightly toothed; the 
leaves on the flower stalk are sessile. 
There are four petals, eight stamens, 
and a long four-parted stigma. The 
solitary flowers grow at the ends of 
the numerous branches near the top of 
the plant. 

Pepper grass (Fig. 234) is well known 
to country children who eat the fruit for 
its spicy taste. The stem of the plant is 
usually only a foot or so high, though 
it may be five or six feet high. The 
lower leaves are narrow, are broader at 
the outer end than at the base, and are 
very much dissected; the stem leaves are smaller and are 
simply toothed. The small white flowers grow in both terminal 
and axillary clusters. The seed pod is rather small, round, and 
flattened, and a conspicuous partition is apparent on the flat face. 

Shepherd?s-purse (Fig. 235) is the commonest weed on earth. 
There is usually a basal rosette of rather slender leaves that are 
deeply cut, but the stem leaves are only toothed. The flower 
stalk rises from six inches to two feet and bears the small white 






WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


293 


flowers in a long raceme. The flat seed pods are heart-shaped 
with a partition showing on the flattened faces; they somewhat 
suggest the old-fashioned shepherd’s bag; hence the name. 

Fleabane (Fig. 236) is a weed with numerous small, white or 
purplish, daisy-like blossoms. It usually grows only a foot or 
two tall; the stem is upright, grooved, hairy, and branched; the 
leaves are slender, lance-shaped or linear, closely but sparingly 
toothed. The heads of bloom 
are about a fifth of an inch 
across. The plant gives off 
an irritating oil when handled; 
it is said to be a preventive 
of fleas if kept under carpets 
or between bed sheets. The 
Philadelphia fleabane is simi¬ 
lar, but the ray flowers are 
rose-tinted. Horseweed is a 
close relative with very short 
ray flowers and very many 
cylindrical heads of bloom, all 
smaller than those of fleabane. 

C. LEAVES WITH DEEPLY CUT 
EDGES 

See peppergrass and shep- 
herd’s-purse, above. 

Tansy belongs in this 

group, but it has already been noted under the weeds with 
strong odors. Cocklebur, if not fruiting, might be referred here, 
but it has been described among plants that bear prickles or 
spines. 

Ragweed , the lesser, not the giant, is a very common, vigorous 
weed, with large leaves that are broadly lance-shaped to ovate. 
The leaves are dissected and the leaflets also, so that they have a 
somewhat fernlike aspect. The flowers grow in what appear 
to be drooping spikes (really racemes) at the ends of the branches 





294 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


and discharge clouds of pollen when mature. The hard egg- 
shaped fruits are an eighth of an inch long and bear, at the larger 
end, several spiny points. The giant ragweed has been noted 
among the plants with opposite leaves. 



Fig. 236.—Daisy fleabane 


Wormwood (Fig. 237) grows quite as rapidly as ragweed. The 
stem is also tall and much branched; the leaves are much dis¬ 
sected and are rather sweet-scented. The plant is a composite, 
the flowers being borne in very small heads that are found in 
open clusters at the end of the branches. The leaves and the 
stems have an exceedingly bitter taste. 




WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


295 


The oxeye daisy is so well known by its flower clusters that it 
hardly needs description. The white ray flowers and the yellow 
disk flowers make a head of bloom that is conspicuous. The 
simple grooved stems, one to three feet high, usually grow in 
clumps. The root leaves are wider at the outer end than at the 
base and are irregularly cut and toothed. The plant is also 
known as poverty weed, be¬ 
cause it seems to grow rankly 
on poor soil. 

The mustards (Fig. 238) 
are very common weeds. All 
have yellow flowers with the 
four petals spreading like the 
arms of a Greek cross, four 
sepals, and six stamens, of 
which two are long. This 
number and arrangement of 
parts are distinctive of the 
family Cruciferae. The 
leaves are of varied shapes 
and the seed pods help in 
determining the species. 

The white mustard has a re- 
verse-lance-shaped leaf that 
is deeply lobed, the margins 
of the lobes being toothed. This description fits the basal leaves 
only, however, for the leaves on the stem are mostly narrow and 
merely toothed. The flower cluster in all the mustards is a termi¬ 
nal raceme. In the white mustard the flowers are a half-inch 
across. Its seed pod is round and beaked, the beak often being 
longer than the rest of the pod. The black mustard is a larger, 
coarser plant, growing from two to six or seven feet in height 
and branching freely. The basal leaves are broad at the outer 
end, are narrower at the base, and are deeply lobed. The flowers 
are about a quarter of an inch broad; the pods are four-angled 





296 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


with short and slim beaks. Charlock, or field mustard, has lance¬ 
shaped leaves; the lower ones are lobed; those on the stem are 
coarsely toothed. The flowers are about a half-inch broad 




Fig. 238.—The common wild mustards, showing stem, leaves, and pods: a, 
white mustard; b, charlock; c, Indian mustard; d, black mustard; e , hedge 
mustard; /, tumble mustard; g, wormseed mustard. 


and the round, knotty seed pods, which are about two inches 
long, are tipped with a long, two-edged beak. Hedge mustard, 
one of the commonest, has leaves that are wide at the outer end, 
tapering toward the base, and are deeply cut. The flowers, 












WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


297 


which are about an eighth-inch broad, are found in flat-topped 
clusters at the e$ds of the stems, which are branched and 
constantly elongate. The pods are round, hairy, and pointed, 
about a half-inch long, and are held close against the stem of the 
plant. Tumble mustard has leaves that are very much dissected 
so that the segments are almost linear. The stem is slender 
and much branched; the seed pods are needle-like, two to four 
inches long, and contain many seeds. 

While this mustard family is prolific of weeds it has also given 
us some of our most valuable vegetables; radishes, turnips, 
rutabagas, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, and others all belong 
to the same genus as the black and white mustard. 

’Weeds are foreigners.—There is given below a table of the 
commoner weeds already briefly described in the text. It is 
such a table as any child in the upper grades might make from 
any good botanical key, such as Gray’s Botany. It shows that 
a few families furnish the great bulk of the weeds; for example, 
about 20 per cent of the given list are composites. It shows 
also how few of our weeds are really American and that nearly 
all are immigrants from Europe, while a few come from Asia, 
Central America, and South America. This is probably due, in 
large measure, to the fact that when an imported plant gets a 
foothold in a new country it is growing where its natural enemies 
do not live and so can make tremendous headway. A very 
similar thing has occurred in other lands besides America. The 
water cress, the Englishman’s favorite salad plant, was trans¬ 
planted to Australia when the English settled there. It took 
so kindly to the new quarters that it soon filled up the rivers and 
blocked navigation, so that the government was obliged to spend 
large sums of money to keep the “salad plant” dredged out of 
the ship channels. Some of our native American plants are 
proving quite as troublesome to European farmers as their plants 
are to American agriculturalists. Unless otherwise indicated 
the plants are native of North America. 


298 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


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302 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Weed seeds.—In connection with the study of weeds, pupils 
might estimate the number of seeds produced by a single 
average-sized plant of each of the common weeds. If different 
children work on different plants they will be interested in 
comparing results. Only a few different kinds of weeds may be 
studied thus each season, but if the records are kept the school 
will have a list of the seeding powers of the common weeds of the 
locality. Below is given a tabulation of the number of seeds 
borne by average-sized plants of the common weeds made up 
largely from estimates of the Kansas Agricultural College and 
the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture. 


Beggar-tick. 

. . . . 10,500 

Prickly lettuce. 

... 10,000 

Burdock. 

. . . . 24,520 

Purslane. 

69,000 

Cocklebur. 

9,700 

Queen Anne’s lace. ... 

50,000 

Crab grass. 

. . . . 89,600 

Ragweed. 

• • 23,100 

Dandelion. 

1,729 

Russian thistle...... 

25,000 

Mullein. 

. ... 31,900 

Shepherd’s-purse. 

17,600 

Mustard, tumble.... 

. . . 1,500,000 

Sow thistle. 

11,000 

Oxeye daisy. 

6,750 

Tumbleweed. 

14.000 

Pinkroot. 

. . . . 85,000 

Yellow foxtail. 

.. 113,600 


Seeds are hardy .—Such a tabulation demonstrates one of the 
reasons why weeds are so common—they have an inordinate 
capacity for reproduction. The seeds, moreover, are very hardy. 
Beal found from actual experiment that seeds of chickweed, 
evening primrose, mustard, narrow-leaf dock, peppergrass, 
pigeonweed, pigweed, purslane, and shepherd’s-purse live after 
being buried in the ground for thirty years. This is nearly the 
maximum of seed vitality, stories of the germination of the grains 
recovered from the pyramids of Egypt to the contrary notwith¬ 
standing. Many weed seeds, such as those of pokeberry, pass 
uninjured through the intestines of the birds that eat them— 
they are so resistant. 

Methods of dispersal .—It would be a worth-while project to 
collect fruits of weeds, and of other plants as well, to demonstrate 
the various methods of seed dispersal. Weeds are eminently 




















WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


3°3 


successful, not only in protecting their seeds, but also in scattering 
them. Many of them are provided with appliances that fit them 
for easy carriage on the fur or feathers of animals or on man’s 
clothing. Others are made so as to fly readily in the air and a 
number of devices are used to insure this, such as the pappus of 
the dandelion seed, the wings on the fruits of the maple tree or 
the ash tree, the parachutes that bear the linden nutlets. Pull 
a dandelion fruit through the fingers as it is gently held between 
their tips and feel the hooks upon its surface. It is quite as 
important that the seed should finally anchor in some crevice 
of the soil as it is that it should go ballooning. Some seeds have 
corky wings that enable them to float on the rivulets that follow 
a rain, while some fall out as the weed, broken from its moorings, 
rolls along before the wind, bumping over the uneven ground. 
Then there are some plants, like the pigweed, that hold their 
seeds until snow comes, when the tiny seeds are driven over the 
crusted surface. Some weeds hurl their seeds to considerable 
distances, and there are many different devices for accomplishing 
this. Touch-me-not uses a coiled spring, larkspur a catapult, 
and wild cucumber a squirt gun. 

Stem propagation .—Ability to grow quantities of seed and to 
scatter them effectually constitutes only two out of the many 
reasons why a weed is able successfully to hold its own. Many 
of them propagate by underground stems or rootstalks, which 
live and throw up new sprouts when the parts above ground 
have been cut off; often when cut into bits this underground 
stem lives and each bit sends up its new stalk. Many, like the 
dandelion, have very large roots that are stored full of food 
materials, so that, in the spring, they can grow very rapidly and 
get ahead of surrounding competitors. Some spread out so 
dense a mat of foliage that they smother other plants about them. 
There are weeds, like the mullein, that wear fur coats to protect 
them from the inclement weather, weeds whose leaves snuggle 
together to keep warm in the cold spring nights, and others that 
turn their leaves on edge to avoid the too intense heat of the 


3 ° 4 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


midday sun. In fact there is scarcely a weed that is not worthy 
of careful study to discover the secret of its success. 

Weed projects.—It makes an interesting exercise to have 
the pupils list as many of the characteristics as they can discover 
in the life-histories of the weeds that enable the plants to win 
out in the struggle for existence. Where does the weed come 
from? How do its seeds travel? Does the plant have other 
means of propagation ? Has it devices for protecting itself from 
cold, rain, insect enemies, intense heat ? How does it pass the 
winter? How long does it live; for one year only, two, or 
several ? How does it injure the crop ? Is it poisonous ? How 
can it be destroyed ? 

It is a very practical project to undertake the elimination of 
weeds from a field or lawn. Paths may be freed from weeds by 
salting heavily, which, however, kills all living things; a little 
pile of salt on the center of a dock plant, a dandelion, or a thistle 
kills it, but evidently the process cannot be applied to large 
areas that are weed-infested. Some weeds are particularly 
susceptible to the influence of poisons. A field of oats may be 
freed of mustard by spraying with a solution of iron or copper 
sulphate (two pounds of the former to the gallon, one-eighth as 
much of the latter), since the poison runs off the upright leaves 
of the grain but sticks to the horizontal leaves of the weeds. On 
the same principle, a lawn may be freed of dandelions by treating 
it with one pound of finely powdered ammonium sulphate to the 
square rod. Dandelions may also be killed by stabbing each 
plant with a sharp stick wet in carbolic acid, a strong poison. 
These are but samples of the modern methods of weed elimina¬ 
tion. School children might do much to aid in the beautification 
of any residence section by cutting and, when dry,, burning the 
weeds along roadways and in vacant lots, for the prevention of 
weeds is easier than their eradication. The weeds that are 
permitted to go to seed in fence corners, on waste lands, and other 
out-of-the-way places are a constant source of trouble, as their 
seeds are carried to the cultivated land near by. Weeds occupy 


WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


3°5 


valuable space, rob crops of food, air, light, heat, and moisture, 
serve as hosts for many fungi and noxious insects, and hinder 
cultivation. The United States Department of Agriculture has 
estimated that weeds cause an average loss of one dollar per 
acre in the cultivated fields of the United States. As there were 
somewhat more than 478,000,000 acres under cultivation accord¬ 
ing to the census of 1910, it is evident that weeds need control. 

A weed notebook is another project that has educational 
values other than acquainting the pupils with the pernicious 
weeds of the neighborhood. Specimens of the weeds are pre¬ 
pared and mounted. Spread the weed, when in blossom, 
between large sheets of blotting paper (sold under the name of 
botany or plant driers), being careful to arrange it in as natural 
a position as possible. Put the sheets of paper with the con¬ 
tained weeds under a board on which is a weight of twenty or 
twenty-five pounds. Change the driers within twelve hours, 
and again at the end of twenty-four hours, so that the plants will 
dry rapidly, for then they retain their natural colors. The 
plants should remain in press for a week or ten days. Mount 
the specimens on unruled paper in the notebook or on large 
sheets of regular botany mounting paper by touching a drop of 
glue to several points on the back of the specimen and then 
laying it on the paper. Label the sheet with the name of the 
plant, the date of collection, and the locality from which it was 
obtained. 

Seed collection .—A collection of weed seeds is a valuable 
addition to the school outfit. Collect at least a spoonful of the 
seed, well cleaned, and put it in a small bottle which is labeled 
with the name of the weed. These bottles may be kept in a 
shallow box or wooden tray or may be fastened to a large card by 
means of string. It is well to have a collection of the seeds of 
the common crop plants also, such as clover, alfalfa, turnips, etc., 
for comparison. It is surprising how distinctive even a tiny 
seed is; one becomes sufficiently expert even in a short time to 
tell, with the aid of a simple lens, most of the common weed seeds 


3°6 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


on sight. Beal’s Seeds of Michigan Weeds or similar pamphlets 
help greatly. Such knowledge is quite important for the farmer 
or gardener, for he uses it to determine the purity of the seed he 
sows. Obtain packages of seed or bulk seed from several of the 
seed houses and examine them, with the collection for reference, 
to see what percentage of weed seed they contain and what weeds 
are most commonly represented. 

A weed garden .—Sow weed seeds in pots or window boxes, 
and when they grow press and mount seedlings of several ages 
on the sheets with the adult weeds so that these seedlings will 
be surely recognized in the garden. A neighbor of mine carefully 
transplanted and carefully tended a whole row of ragweed 
seedlings thinking they were cosmos plants. A crop may easily 
be pulled up when weeding in the garden unless one knows the 
seedlings well. 

The teacher who is at a loss to find some plants to grow in the 
schoolroom that will stand cold, neglect, and poor light will find 
that weeds have value after all. Transplant some half-mature 
dandelion plants to the school window box in the fall; the 
dandelion blossom is doubly cheery indoors when the snow is on 
the fields. Corn cockle, bouncing Betty, hound’s-tongue, 
butter and eggs, shepherd’s-purse, and many others are worth the 
trial. Such processes as planting in flats, picking out and 
transplanting to pots, repotting and trimming, may be carried 
out with the weeds at no cost for material and no loss if materials 
die in the attempts. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 

Beal,W. J. Michigan Weeds. Michigan Agricultural College Experiment 
Station (East Lansing), Bulletin No. 267. 

-. Seeds of Michigan Weeds. Michigan Agricultural College Experi¬ 
ment Station (East Lansing), Bulletin No. 260. 

Blatchley, W. S. The Indiana Weed Book. Indianapolis: Nature Pub¬ 
lishing Co. 

1 Farmers’ bulletins are issued by the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, D.C. 



WAYSIDE FLOWERS 


3°7 

Bliss, R. C. Unlawful and Other Weeds of Iowa. Agricultural Experiment 
Station (Ames), Bulletin No. 31. 

Cates, J. S. The Eradication of Quack-Grass. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 464. 

Chestnut, V. K. Thirty Poisonous Plants of the United States. Farmers’ 
Bulletin No. 86. 

Coe, H. S. Weeds. South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station 
(Brookings), Bulletin No. 150. 

Cox, H. R. Weeds: How to Control Them. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 660. 

Dewey, I. H. Migration of Weeds. United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture Yearbook, 1896. 

-. Table of 200 Weeds. United States Department of Agriculture 

Yearbook, 1895. 

-. Twenty-five Most Harmful Weeds. United States Department of 

Agriculture Yearbook, 1897. 

-. Tumbling Mustard. United States Department of Agriculture, 

Division of Botany, Circular No. 6. 

-. Weeds and How to Kill Them. United States Department of 

Agriculture, Bulletin 28. 

Garman, H. Some Kentucky Weeds and Poisonous Plants. Kentucky 
Agricultural Experiment Station (Lexington), Bulletin No. 183. 

Georgia, Ada M. Manual of the Weeds. New York: The Macmillan Co. 
$2.00. 

Henkel, Alice. Weeds Used in Medicine. United States Department of 
Agriculture Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 188. 

Hillman, F. H. Dodder in Relation to Farm Seeds. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 
306. 

-. Testing Farm Seeds in the Home and in the Rural School. Farmers’ 

Bulletin No. 428. 

Jenkins, E. H. Feeds, Seeds, and Weeds. Connecticut Agricultural Station 
(New Haven), Bulletin No. 161. 

Johnson, A. G. Canada Thistle and Its Eradication. Indiana Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Purdue University (LaFayette), Circular No. 32. 

Kalter, Grace M. The Weeds of the Miami Valley. Miami University 
(Oxford), Ohio, Bulletin No. 2, Series No. 9. 

Kansas State Agricultural College Experiment Station (Manhattan). 
Kansas Weeds, Preliminary, Bulletin No. 52; Kansas Weeds, Seedlings, 
Bulletin No. 50; Kansas Weeds, Fruits, Seeds, Bulletin No. 66. 

Marsh, Clawson, and Marsh. Larkspur or Poison Weed. Farmers’ 
Bulletin No. 531. 

Morley, Margaret W. Flowers and Their Friends. Boston: Ginn & Co. 
$0.60. 

--. Seed Babies. Boston: Ginn & Co. $0.30. 








308 OUR LIVING WORLD 

Needham, James G. Natural History of the Farm. Ithaca, N.Y.: The 
Comstock Publishing Co. $1.50. 

Pammel, I. H. Weeds of Farm and Garden. New York: Orange Judd & 
Co. $1.50. 

-. Some Weeds of Iowa. Iowa State College Experiment Station 

(Ames), Bulletin No. 70. 

Pipal, J. F. Red Sorrel and Its Control. Purdue University Agricultural 
Experiment Station (LaFayette), Bulletin No. 197. 

Selby, A. D. Noxious Weeds and Their Destruction. Ohio Agricultural 
Experiment Station (Wooster), Bulletin No. 59. 

-. Spraying to Kill Weeds. Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station 

(Wooster), Circular No. 102. 

Shaw, Thomas. Weeds and How to Eradicate Them. St. Paul: Webb 
Publishing Co. 

-. Weeds and Weed Seeds. Canada Department of Agriculture 

(Ottawa), Bulletin Nos. 3-8. 

Stone, A. L. How to Rid Our Farms of Weeds. University of Wisconsin 
Agricultural Experiment Station (Madison), Circular No. 48. 

TenEyck. American Grasses. Kansas State Agricultural College Experi¬ 
ment Station, Bulletin No. 175. 

Van Es and Waldron. Some Stock Poisoning Plants of North Dakota. 
North Dakota Agricultural College Experiment Station (Fargo), 
Bulletin No. 58. 

Waldron, J. R. Weed Studies. North Dakota Agricultural College 
Experiment Station (Fargo), Bulletin No. 62. 

Weed, Clarence M. Seed Travellers. Boston: Ginn & Co. $0.50. 

-. Ten New England Blossoms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 

$1.25. 

Weed Seeds in Manure and Weed Seeds in Feeding. Farmers’ Bulletin 
No. 334. 

Westgate and Vinal. Sweet Clover. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 485. 






CHAPTER VII 
COMMON TREES 

Tree characters.—While there are a great many different kinds 
of trees in the United States, the number of species in any given 
locality is not very large. Even in localities that are especially 
favored probably not more than fifty or sixty species are to be 
counted, so that it is really not a very great task to learn to 
recognize the common trees of one’s environment; and it adds 
no small pleasure to one’s daily life if he is on terms of speaking 
familiarity with these usual features of the yards and streets. 
When you are introduced to a stranger you look for some peculiar 
feature to associate with the name; later, when you come to 
know the person well, you no longer need the recognition mark, 
for you know him by the whole assemblage of characteristics 
that mark his personality; you recognize him at a distance, even 
in a crowd. So the woodsman comes to know his trees, even at 
long range. Pie cannot tell you how he knows them; he just 
knows them. This intimate familiarity is a desirable goal to 
reach, but at first the new student must have some definite 
earmarks for each tree so that he can be sure that he recognizes a 
tree because it possesses these known characters. In the pages 
that immediately follow, such peculiarities of tree form, leaf, 
bark, and twig characters are given as will best serve in the 
identification of the particular tree. 1 

Evergreens.—These trees in the United States are divisible 
into a few readily recognized genera. All have some characters 
in common. They have a habit of growth that is peculiar—the 
trunk of the tree runs straight from base to tip (Fig. 239), a 
tapering, unbranched bole, and frequently the tree is spirelike. 

1 These characters are given in key form in the Field and Laboratory Guide in 
Biological Nature-Study. 


309 



Fig. 239.—The straight stem of a conifer 












COMMON TREES 


3 “ 

the whole mass of it, from base to apex, diminishing ii» diameter. 
The branches spring from the trunk in whorls or, expressing it in 
another way, circle around the trunk at a given level. 

The differences between the several sorts are easily expressed 
(Fig. 240). The needles on the twigs are single, not in clusters, 
except on the pines and larches. The larch has many needles 
in the cluster so that the branches seem furnished with many 
little paint brushes, especially in the spring when the buds are 
bursting. The larch and the cypress are the only evergreens 
that are not always green; they shed their leaves in the fall 
and do not renew them until spring. The term “ conifers ” is 
therefore a better name to use for these trees, though in some of 
the conifers, like the yew and the juniper, the cone is imbedded 
in a berry-like envelope so that this character is obscured. 

The white pine. —Even in regions where the conifers are 
abundant they are often spoken of as “pines,” an improper use 
of the term, since the pines include only those evergreens in which 
the needles are found in clusters of from two to five and are two 
or more inches long, longer than those of any other conifers. The 
pine which has been most productive in the northern states, 
yielding millions of feet of lumber, is the white pine, Pinus 
strobus. This is a beautiful tree, easily recognized even by the 
novice on close inspection, for it has five needles in each cluster. 
Solitary specimens are still common, but “stands” large enough 
to pay for cutting are now very rare, though at one time white- 
pine forests covered areas as large as entire states. 

Other pines. —The pitch pine, Pinus rigida , common in the 
East and South, has three needles in each cluster and has much 
resin in its wood. In northern New England and in Michigan, 
Wisconsin, and adjacent states the red or Norway pine, Pinus 
resinosa, is a characteristic feature of the landscape. It is a 
towering tree with shapely head and reddish trunk. Two 
needles, more than two inches long, are bound together in its 
clusters. The scrub pines, both the northern, Pinus banksiana, 
and the eastern, Pinus virginiana, are smaller trees with scrawny 


Balsam 

Juniper Hemlock 

Spruce 

Fig. 240.—Twigs of the evergreens, a pupil’s drawings 



t 





COMMON TREES 


313 

and irregular branches. They also have two needles in each 
cluster, but these are short, less than two inches. The northern 
scrub pine is found in the Great Lakes region; the southern, in 
New Jersey, southern Indiana, and south of the Ohio River. 

The spruces have the single needles coming out all around 
the twigs, so that the latter appear cylindrical. The white 
spruce, the common species, is a tree of large size, conical in 
shape when standing in the open. 

Th e junipers have somewhat the same sort of twigs, but the 
needles are less regular in their arrangement, are very sharp- 
pointed, and are white beneath. Many of the needles are turned 
underside up and so give the tree a gray-green color. The 
junipers are all low and shrubby except the so-called red cedar. 

The balsam , hemlock , and yew all have the needles arranged 
on the opposite sides of the twig, giving it a feather-like appear¬ 
ance. The two former are trees, the latter a scraggy shrub 
growing as underbrush, usually in the hemlock forest; it produces 
red slimy “ berries.” The needles of the balsam are three- 
fourths of an inch in length, those of the hemlock about half 
an inch. The trunk of the balsam is blistered with swellings 
that pour out a sticky gum when punctured. 

The white cedar , or arbor vitae, has leaves that are in the form 
of overlapping scales rather than like needles. 

The deciduous trees.- —Most trees are not evergreen, but 
drop their leaves each autumn. Such are known as deciduous 
trees. There are certain features of the deciduous trees that 
must be known before we can proceed with a discussion of their 
characteristics. Secure twigs from such trees as the horse 
chestnut, the Carolina poplar, and the ailanthus in the winter 
condition (Fig. 241). In the first-mentioned notice that the 
twigs are opposite, in the others alternate; and what is true 
of the twigs is also true of the leaf scars and the leaves. The 
leaf scars, which mark the places where the last year’s leaves 
were borne, are very plain in any of these trees, notably so in the 
horse chestnut and the ailanthus. In each leaf scar may be seen 




OUR LIVING WORLD 


several dots, the ends of the fibrovascular bundles that carry sap 
up to the leaf. These bundle scars are characteristic features 
of many trees. 

Buds .—The buds usually appear just above the old leaf scars 
or, as the botanist says, in the axils of the leaves. The bud at 
the end of the twig is called the terminal bud, while those along 
the sides are the lateral buds. Customarily only one bud appears 
at each axil, but some trees, like the maples, have extra ones, and 

these are called supernumer¬ 
ary buds. Sometimes buds 
appear at irregular places, 
other than those noted, and 
such are designated adventi¬ 
tious buds. These buds are 
likely to lie dormant under 
ordinary conditions but de¬ 
velop when the tree is cut 
back or sometimes near 
points of injury. It would 
be well for pupils to see- these 
features, to make sketches of 
twigs, and to fix such points 
in mind. 

It is worth while having 
pupils study individual buds 
and watch their unfolding in the spring (Fig. 242). Select large 
buds for such study, like those of lilac, horse chestnut, or hickory. 
Note that the bud is covered with overlapping scales that are 
laid on with a definite arrangement. Is there any relation 
between the arrangement of these bud scales and that of the 
leaf scars and twigs ? What is to be found within the scales ? 
As they are picked off lay them in a row on a sheet of paper. 
What do you conclude that the bud scales really are ? Do you 
find the same things inside of all buds? Do you see what 
advantage these bud scales, can be to the plant ? Feel the buds 




Fig. 241. —Twigs of horse chestnut, 
Carolina poplar, and ailanthus. 




COMMON TREES 315 

of the horse chestnut, the pine, and the sumac. How can the 
things you discover serve the buds ? Watch a bud unfold and 
make sketches of it at several stages. Into what does the bud 
grow ? Cut down through a bud and look at the cut surface. 
Cut down through an onion or a crocus bulb and compare it with 
the cut-open bud. 

Deciduous Trees with Opposite Branches 

The deciduous trees are divisible into two groups: those 
having opposite leaves and twigs and those having alternate 



Fig. 242.—The unfolding of the horse chestnut bud 


leaves and twigs, and the latter group will be still further sub¬ 
divided to facilitate identification of those trees encountered 
whose identity is not known by the pupil. It must not be 
expected that all twigs and leaves will be opposite, even on the 
trees supposed to have this characteristic, for not infrequently a 
bud dies or a leaf is killed; many twigs, however, will be seen 
to be opposite, enough to indicate that the opposite method of 
branching is normal for the particular tree. The ashes, maples, 
the horse chestnut, and the flowering dogwood have such oppo¬ 
site twigs. All other common deciduous trees have alternate 
twig and leaf arrangement except the catalpa. 

The catalpa also often appears to have an opposite arrange¬ 
ment, but its leaf scars usually occur three at a node or joint. 




3*6 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The bundle scars in the leaf scar are arranged in an ellipse. 
The leaf is large, heart-shaped, and taper-pointed, and the long 
seed pods hang on the tree much of the year. 

The horse chestnut is readily told by its prominent leaf scars 
(Fig. 241), its glistening buds sticky with protecting gum (Fig. 
242), and by its palmately compound leaf. Since the term 
compound leaf must be used constantly it will be well to stop to 
explain it. The usual leaf consists of the blade or the thin 
expanded portion and the petiole or stalk; and sometimes there 



Fig. 243.—Palmately compound leaf of horse chestnut at left; pinnately 
compound leaf of ash at right. 

are present a pair of leaflike expansions at the base of the stalk, 
the stipules. The blade of the leaf may have an entire edge or 
it may be cut more or less deeply into numerous lobes or divisions; 
these divisions may run nearly to the midrib and the leaf still 
be a simple leaf. If, however, the leaf consists of several or 
many small leaflets attached to the petiole or to the midrib, the 
leaf is compound. These leaflets may spread out from the 
central petiole as the fingers do from the palm of the hand, when 
the leaf is said to be palmately compound; or the leaflets may be 
arranged on either side of the midrib, when it is pinnately 
compound (Fig. 243). 





COMMON TREES 


Ml 


The common horse chestnut usually has seven leaflets in its 
compound leaf while the buckeye has fewer, though some of the 
leaves of the latter may have seven. 

The maples all have simple leaves except the ash-leaved maple 
or box elder. The ash trees all have pinnately compound leaves 
(Fig. 243). There are three distinct bundle scars in the leaf scar 
of a maple; many bundle scars arranged in a U in the leaf scar 
of the ash. The maple buds are smooth, the ash buds are hairy. 
The maple fruit consists of two winged seeds or keys that are 
attached together, the ash fruit is a single key (Fig. 244). 

The Norway maple and the box elder are readily distinguished 
from the other maples because their opposite leaf scars meet, 
encircling the twig, and there is a tooth at the points of juncture. 
The Norway maple has a simple 
leaf and reddish bark on the 
twigs; the box elder has a pin¬ 
nately compound leaf and green 
bark on the twigs. 

The hard or sugar maple (Fig. 

245) has few teeth on the leaf and 
the notch between the principal 
lobes is U-shaped. Its terminal 
buds are brown. The soft maple and the red maple have V-shaped 
notches between the lobes of the leaf and the teeth along the mar¬ 
gin are numerous. The terminal twigs of the red maple are red; 
young leaves—and the old leaves in autumn color—are red. The 
buds of the sycamore-leaved maple are green and the leaves are so 
like those of the sycamore that they are very characteristic. 

The striped and mountain maples are usually encountered as 
shrubs rather than as trees. The conspicuous, longitudinal, pale- 
green stripes on the bark of young stems and twigs easily dis¬ 
tinguish the former, while the white down on the terminal twigs 
and the buds of the latter distinguish it. 

The ash trees seem partial to color terminology. The white 
ash has leaf scars that have a concave upper border. The black 




318 OUR LIVING WORLD 

ash is the only one that has sessile leaflets; that is, its leaflets have 
no stems but cling closely to the midrib of the leaf. Its bark is 
not deeply furrowed but scaly and has the feel of talcum powder. 
Its buds are black. The blue ash has four-sided twigs. The red 
ash has branchlets and petioles that are velvety with fine hairs. 

In the flowering dogwood the upper buds are covered with the 
persistent bases of the leaf stalks even in winter. In spring the 
tree is a mass of white. The clusters of inconspicuous flowers are 


Fig. 245.—A sugar maple grove 

surrounded by four white bracts which give the tree the appear¬ 
ance of being covered with great white blossoms (Fig. 246). The 
leaf is a characteristic dogwood leaf, ovate, with entire margin 
and conspicuous veins that parallel each other as they run out 
from the midrib. The bark on older trunks is so checked off into 
blocks by cracks that it has the appearance of alligator skin. 

Deciduous Trees with Alternate Branches 

I. THOSE KNOWN BY BARK CHARACTERS 

The poplars— The trees with alternate branches are a 
numerous tribe. However, in all there is some peculiarity that 
enables one to easily distinguish them on brief examination. 




COMMON TREES 


3 I 9 


Some are most readily known by the character of the bark. The 
poplars all have smooth, yellowish-green bark; although the 
bark of the trunk may alter with age, that of the branches will 
still show the distinguishing character. There are several 
poplars. That one most universally known, about the cities at 
least, is the imported Lombardy poplar, recognized readily by 
its slender shape (Fig. 247). The Carolina poplar, or cotton- 



Fig. 246.—Blossom clusters of flowering dogwood 


wood, is one of the hardiest, growing under conditions that 
would effectually discourage any other tree. It is a large tree 
with broadly triangular leaves whose stems are laterally flattened. 
On young twigs ridges run down the bark from the leaf scars; 
these are particularly plain on the new shoots or suckers arising 
at the base of the tree. The buds are long and generous in size. 
Three other poplars also have such very flat petioles or leaf 
stems that the leaves tremble in the least wind. One has leaves 
whose undersides are covered with white hairs, as are also the 




3 2 ° 


OUR LIVING WORLD 



young branches, so that the tree has a glistening appearance, 
especially when breezes stir and turn the leaves. This is the 
white or silver-leaved poplar. Its trunk is usually roughened by 
scars on the bark, like brownish mouths with swollen lips. The 
small-toothed aspen is also one of these tremulous poplars. Its 
leaves are heart-shaped and are edged with fine sharp teeth; its 


Fig. 247.—Lombardy poplars 

bud scales are smooth. The large-toothed aspen has larger 
leaves with teeth that are coarse and rounded; its bud scales 
are hairy. 

The other poplars (Fig. 248) have petioles that are squarish 
in section, or channeled, but flattened little if at all. In the 
downy poplar the young leaves and petioles are covered with 
white hair. The balsam poplar has large buds covered with 
copious fragrant gum. The balm of Gilead is similar except that 
the petiole and the lower surface of the leaf are hairy. Some 




COMMON TREES 


3 21 


authorities make no distinction between these two, calling both 
the balsam poplar or the balm of Gilead. It is said that during 
the Crusades the wounded knights used the gum from the buds 
of such trees growing near Gilead in the Holy Land to anoint 
their wounds and found it a very healing remedy; hence the tree 
acquired its name. 

The willows (Fig. 249) have yellowish-green bark also, but 
their leaves are narrow and their twigs are slender and sleek, 
which gives the tree a graceful carriage, while poplars stand 



Fig. 248.—White poplars as a wind shield 


stiffly erect. Willows are difficult to distinguish unless leaf, blos¬ 
som, and fruit can be had, and since the differences can scarcely 
be briefly described the interested student is referred to the key 
in the Field and Laboratory Guide in Biological Nature-Study. 

The birches are readily known by their bark, which peels off 
in layers. As the fibers of the bark run, for the most part, 
around the tree, the bark layers peel off circularly and not in 
longitudinal strips. The outer layers of the bark tend to loosen 
in the fall so that the tree is usually shaggy through the early 
winter. The Indians used these shaggy trees as signal trees 




3 22 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


because, when lighted, the fire runs rapidly up the trunk, making 
a brief but brilliant torch, and usually leaves the tree none the 
worse for its singeing. 

The white or gray birch has a chalky white bark with tri¬ 
angular black patches under the branches. The paper or canoe 
birch is similar but is free from these black marks. The leaves 



Fig. 249.—A black willow 


of the former are square across the base as if cut off with shears, 
while those of the latter are rounded and tapering at the base. 
The canoe birch does not branch near the ground when growing 
in the forest; it therefore affords a long clean trunk which, when 
stripped, yields a large strong sheet of bark free from holes. The 
yellow or gray birch has a yellow or silvery gray bark that peels 
in thin filmy layers, while the bark on the two preceding birches 
comes off in fairly thick sheets. The sweet, black, or cherry birch 




COMMON TREES 


3 2 3 

has twigs and bark that are very fragrant and are aromatic to the 
taste. The bark looks more like that of a black cherry than it 
does like the other birches. 

Cherry trees .—The young birches appear very like the cherry 
trees, since the reddish outer bark of the birch does not begin to 
peel off and show the characteristic lighter bark until the tree 
is two or three inches in diameter. The cherry trees also have 
bark that peels off in layers around the trunk, except in the case 
of the black cherry (Fig. 250), 
and the bark is also reddish 
brown. The lenticels or 
breathing pores of the cherry 
are more conspicuous than 
those of the birch; the edges 
are rough and turn back, while 
those of the birch look more 
like light-brown lines in the 
reddish-brown bark of the 
young trees or in the whitish 
bark of the old trees. The 
cherries may also be known 
by the bitter taste of the 
bark and the buds. The wild 
black cherry is exceptional in 
bark character, for its bark is rough, broken up into irregular 
polygonal blocks on the older trees. The cherries are readily 
distinguished from the wild plum, with which they have many 
characters in common, by the absence of the terminal buds 
on the twigs of the plum. In the wild red cherry the buds 
are clustered at the tips of all shoots; its flowers are also 
clustered, the stems of the separate blossoms springing from a 
common point. The choke cherry lacks the clustered buds and 
the blossoms are found in long racemes, clusters in which the 
individual blossoms spring from a central elongated stem. The 
fruit is, of course, borne in similar clusters. 



Fig. 250.—Trunk of the black cherry 





OUR LIVING WORLD 


324 


The sycamore is another tree easily distinguished by its 
peculiar bark. The trunk has a mottled appearance, especially 
in the older trees, the dark-brown bark flaking off and exposing 
patches of the white or yellowish-green inner bark. The round 
fruits, which look like balls an inch in diameter, often hang from 
the tree through the winter. They give the tree its name of 
button tree. It is also known as the plane tree, because the bark 



Fig. 251.—Trunks of the hackberry and the beech (at right) 


peels off in such large flat plates. The sycamore is notable for 
its great size and is the largest deciduous tree that we have. A 
specimen standing near Richmond, Indiana, in the White River 
Valley, has a circumference at five feet from the ground of forty- 
two feet three inches. 

The hackberry is readily known by its bark (Fig. 251), which 
is roughened by longitudinal corky ridges that stand out very 
conspicuously and are made-up of numerous superimposed layers 
that show clearly when the bark is cut. In general shape it is 




COMMON TREES 


325 


much like the elm; its leaves are somewhat like those of the elm, 
too, but are lopsided at the base. The tree grows with fair 
rapidity, more rapidly than the elm, is free from parasites and 
insect pests, and is very attractive to the birds. These are 
characters that make it eminently desirable as a shade tree. 

The walnuts are stamped by trunk peculiarities; the bark is 
conspicuously ridged, but the ridges subdivide and run into each 
other, like a series of interlacing switch tracks, inclosing many 
diamond-shaped areas that are so numerous and regular as to 
attract attention. The twigs of the walnuts are coarse and the 
pith is chambered (Fig. 252) or 
divided into numerous compart¬ 
ments by thin cross-partitions. 

rTM . . . 1,1 1 Fig. 252.—A walnut twig to show 

The black walnut has a much the chamb ered pith, 
darker bark than the white wal¬ 
nut or butternut, and the former has gray buds while the latter 
has brown. The nut of the former is round; of the latter, 
elliptical. 

The hickories also have coarse twigs and the pith is chambered, 
but only at the nodes or joints, while the pith of the walnuts 
is chambered throughout their length. The shagbark hickory is 
usually conspicuous because of the exceedingly shaggy character 
of the bark, which tends to scale off in curly plates. The other 
hickories have bark that is gray and more or less ridged, but not 
deeply like the walnuts. Shagbark buds have two conspicuous 
outstanding brown scales. The bitternut hickory has bright 
yellow buds that are glandular. The buds of the pignut are 
small; its twigs are slender and smooth. The mockernut 
hickory is somewhat like the last, but it has larger buds, the 
terminal buds a half-inch long or nearly so; they are oval, covered 
with close, yellowish-brown, downy scales. The twigs are stout. 

* The water beech , or hornbeam, has a trunk that is irregularly 
fluted (Fig. 253) and is seldom circular in outline. The bark is 
smooth and gray. The leaves are ovate to oblong, pointed and 
sharply toothed, looking considerably like those of the beech. 








3 2 6 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The tree seldom grows large and is often only a shrub in 
proportion. The true beech has a smooth, light-gray, unfluted 
trunk and bears small triangular nuts (Fig. 251). 

The ironwood , or hop hornbeam, is a small tree with brownish 
furrowed bark, much like that of a white cedar, which breaks 
into numerous narrow longitudinal strips that are free at the 
ends and peel off in long narrow strips. The wood of the tree 

is exceedingly hard. The 
leaves resemble those of the 
birch. 

2 . TREES WITH ALTERNATE TWIGS, 
KNOWN BY THEIR FORM 

Certain trees are of such 
characteristic shape that they 
are known largely by their 
form. The elm is one of the 
best examples of these — its 
vase or umbrella shape is 
familiar to every observant 
person (Fig. 254). The Amer¬ 
ican or white elm is the best 
known*of all the elms. Mag¬ 
nificent specimens of it are 
to be found in many com¬ 
munities. So far as is known the largest specimen of the species is 
growing at Wethersfield, Connecticut, and has a circumference of 
twenty-seven feet one inch. Some of these trees stand as monu¬ 
ments of historic events, like the Washington elm at Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, under which General Washington took command 
of the American army in Revolutionary days. The red elm or 
slippery elm is not likely to be so graceful a tree and its top does 
not have so perfect a shape. It blossoms much earlier in the 
spring and its buds are hairy, while those of the white elm are 
smooth. When the twigs or inner bark of the red elm are chewed 
they make a slippery mass in the mouth, a delight to the small 






COMMON TREES 


3 2 7 

boy. The leaves of the two are somewhat unlike in form, and 
those of the red elm are coarser and harsher in texture. 

The oaks are usually recognized by their shape quite as well 
as by the form of the leaf or their well-known fruit, for the lower 
branches are given off from the trunk at so nearly a right angle 
that the tree has a particularly sturdy appearance (Fig. 255). 
Because it is difficult to make an accurate determination of the 



Fig. 254. —An American elm 


various kinds of oaks without having leaves and acorns at hand 
there is given herewith a series of sketches of the leaves and acorns 
of the commoner kinds that will help in their identification (Fig. 
256). Usually the acorns are to be found on the ground under 
the trees even if there are none on them at the time of examina¬ 
tion, so that they are easy to secure. 

The pepperidge , sour gum, or tupelo, is another tree that is 
known by its general habit. The trunk usually runs straight to 





328 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the top, as it does in the pines, and does not break up into many 
smaller branches, as in the elm. (The tree is excurrent, not 
deliquescent.) The branches are horizontal or the lower ones 
even drooped, and the slender twigs are so numerous that they 
appear crowded. There are woody partitions in the pith, best 
seen with the hand lens, that confirm the determination. The 



Fig. 255.—A white oak 


thick, firm, glossy green leaves are obovate or oblong in shape, 
are usually acute at both ends, and have entire margins. 

The ginkgo , or maidenhair, tree also has a trunk that runs 
straight to the top. Its lower branches may be horizontal or 
even declined, but the upper ones rise at an angle of about forty- 
five degrees. The leaf is very peculiar (Fig. 257), unlike that of 
any other tree. The raised leaf scars are semioval and the upper 
margin is usually fringed; there are only two bundle scars. These 
are sufficiently clear characters to make determination possible 
even when the tree is not in leaf. 


























OUR LIVING WORLD 


.330 

3. TREES WITH ALTERNATE BRANCHES, TOLD BY TWIG CHARACTERS 

Trees that are to be told by their twig characters as well as 
by their leaf peculiarities form a large part of those usually 
encountered. 

The tulip tree is most easily known when it is in foliage, since 
the tip of the leaf is truncate or square-cut. When not in leaf 
the oblong, flattened terminal buds and the circular, elevated 
leaf scars, flanked with stipule scars that encircle the stem, are 
distinguishing characters. 

The sassafras leaf is a peculiar one, mitten-like in outline. 
The leaf scar has only one bundle scar, quite a unique character. 


The twigs of the tree are green¬ 
ish or reddish green, and so 
certainly flavored with the sas¬ 
safras taste that one need only 
chew them to be sure of the 
tree. Usually the growth is of 
shrublike proportions, or if the 
tree is of good size there are 
many young shoots starting up 
under the old tree. 



The linden is one of a number 
of trees that do not have termi¬ 
nal buds on the twigs, which, 
therefore, cannot grow straight 


Fig. 257.—Ginkgo leaf 


out, but develop in a zigzag course. One may easily be deceived 
in this, for the last lateral bud may have almost a terminal 
position, though it does not stand on the very apex of the twig. 
The buds are two-ranked on the linden, that is, they occur on 
opposite sides of the twig, not opposite to each other but alter¬ 
nate. They are distinctly mucilaginous when chewed. If the 
tree is in foliage the large thin leaf with serrate edge and lopsided 
base is a feature that allows no doubt as to the identity of the 
tree. Often the peculiar woody fruits, about the size of peas, 
cling to the tree even into the winter. Usually several of these 




COMMON TREES 


33i 


fruits, each with its own stalk, are borne on one end of a stem 
the other end of which is fastened to a lance-shaped bract (Fig, 
258), as the handle is inserted into an umbrella. It is aptly 
designated a parachute fruit, for when the cluster loosens its 
hold upon the tree it sails away on air currents for some distance 
before it strikes the ground. 

The other trees in which the absence of the terminal bud is a 
helpful distinguishing feature, but which, unlike the linden, have 
pinnately compound leaves, are the ailanthus, the Kentucky 
coffee tree, both the black and honey locusts, the redbud, and 
the sumacs. The locusts and 
the redbud have slender twigs, 
but the others of the group have 
coarse stubby twigs. 

The locusts are usually suffi¬ 
ciently marked by the presence 
of thorns together with the 
characters mentioned above. 

In the black locust (Fig. 259) the 
thorns are found in pairs at the 
nodes; in the honey locust they 
are branched and are found not 
only singly at the nodes but also in clusters on the trunks. If the 
thorns are absent, as is sometimes the case, the bud characters 
serve to identify, as there are several buds, in a longitudinal row, 
at each node. The buds on the black locust are minute, rusty, 
and downy and are inclosed in a cavity of like character; those 
on the honey locust are usually under the bark, except the top 
one of the row, and can be seen only by cutting the twig longi¬ 
tudinally through the one or two visible buds. The fruit on 
both locusts is a pod; that on the black is two to four inches long, 
flat, dark brown, and persists through the winter; the ones on 
the honey locust are ten to eighteen inches long (Fig. 260), flat, 
brown, and more or less twisted. In the spring both locusts 
have clusters of fragrant blossoms shaped like those of a pea. 





OUR LIVING WORLD 


33 2 


The redbud is covered with red blossoms, also pealike or 
papilionaceous, before the leaves appear in the spring. These 
flower buds are present as characteristic features in the winter; 
a cluster of them grows at the base of each little branchlet and 



Fig. 259.—A black locust 


there are often scattered clusters even on the trunk. The pith 
of the redbud is streaked with red, a feature that identifies i t. 

The Kentucky cofee tree has salmon-colored pith. The buds 
are silky, bronze in color, and are partially sunken in downy 
dimples in the bark. The trunk of the tree is marked by thin 
corky ridges, like flat strips of thin brown paper, that inclose 






COMMON TREES 


333 


polygonal depressions. The pods are large, four to ten inches 
long by one-and-a-half to two inches wide, and contain good-sized 
beans that are very hard. 

The ailanthus has large heart-shaped leaf scars with several 
conspicuous bundle scars in a curved line; together with the 
stubby twigs and grayish bark they make it impossible to confuse 
the tree with any other. 



Fig. 260.—Persistent pods on a honey locust 


The staghorn sumac has leaf scars that almost encircle the 
long buds. The terminal twigs are hairy like a stag’s horns “in 
the velvet.’’ Some of the reddish-brown fruits, in conelike, 
erect clusters, usually stay on some of the trees in a clump during 
part of the winter. The smooth sumac is similar except that the 
twigs are covered with bloom rather than with hairs, like the 
surface of a purple plum. The poison sumac has the terminal 
bud. Its leaf scars are large, conspicuous, and triangular, with 
the base of the triangle up. It is a shrub rather than a tree, 




334 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


seldom reaching twenty feet in height; but it needs to be known 
that it may be avoided when in the woods, for it is more poisonous 
than its near relative, the poison ivy. It is a tree of the swamps. 
The best treatment as also for poison ivy is prompt washing 
with thick soap lather. 



Fig. 261.—Cattle-trimmed hawthorns 


4. TREES WITH ALTERNATE BRANCHES, KNOWN BY THEIR 
CONSPICUOUS THORNS 

The prickly ash, osage orange , and hawthorn, in addition to the 
locusts, have thorns that are very conspicuous features. The 
prickly ash, usually encountered as a shrub rather than a tree, 
is likely to be confused with the young black locust. The 
pungent flavor of its twigs and the absence of the row of buds at 
the node distinguish it. Like the black locust, it has a pair 
of short thorns or prickers at each node. The Osage orange has 
a pair of thorns at each node also, but they decrease in size toward 




COMMON TREES 


335 


the ends of the branches while those on the locust and prickly 
ash are uniform. The pistillate trees bear the large rounded 
masses of seeds that give the name of orange to the tree; these 
hang on for much of the winter. 

Like the locusts, the hawthorns are sometimes found without 
thorns upon them, but usually sharp thorns are upon the trunk 
of the tree as well as on the twigs in the leaf axils. The tree is 
usually small, the buds are spherical and reddish, and the bark 
is gray or reddish and somewhat shredded. The leaves are 
simple, of varied shapes, but mostly ovoid. The white blossoms 
are borne in umbels and when in full bloom the trees are beautiful. 
The fruits are tiny apples, red or brown, yellow or green, differing 
in color in different species. They are found under the trees for 
some time after they fall and are an easy means of identification. 
The hawthorns stand trimming well and are therefore valuable 
as hedge plants; even in nature they frequently are trimmed into 
fantastic shapes in the pastures when the tender tips of the 
twigs are eaten off by cattle (Fig. 261). 

5. TREES WITH ALTERNATE LEAVES BEST RECOGNIZED BY THEIR FRUITS 

The sweet gum bears, most of the winter, some of its peculiar 
fruits—rough, stalked bells, an inch or two in diameter. The 
tree also has strikingly peculiar twigs. After the first year’s 
growth corky ridges develop on them similar to those on the cork 
elm or the bur oak (Fig. 262). If in foliage, the tree may be 
easily recognized by the leaf, with its five spreading points. 

The witch-hazel is another tree, more often found as a shrub, 
that bears distinguishing fruits. The seed pods, which persist 
on the tree long after the seeds are discharged, are two-chambered 
capsules with bases surrounded by the persistent dry calyx and 
mouths that are wide-spreading when the capsules are empty 
(Fig. 263). These seed cases fly open with a sudden snap when 
they are ripe, hurling the seeds to a considerable distance; it 
is an interesting experience to be bombarded by the witch-hazel. 
If the unopened seed pods are taken home in the early fall and 


33<> 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


left on the table or mantle the chances are that one will see or at 
least hear some of them as they open and discharge the seeds. 
The leaf scars on the witch-hazel are inverted brown triangles 
with whitish bundle scars. The buds are borne on stalks. 

The tag alder , or black alder, also has the stalked buds and 
it too is distinguished by its persistent fruits. The old seed cases 
look like brownish cones, a half-inch long, and they remain on 
the tree until after the new green fruits are formed (Fig. 264). 



Fig. 262.—Sweet gum, branches and fruit 


d he bark is like that of a cherry or young birch and the leaves are 
quite like birch leaves. It is a very common tree along stream 
and swamp margins. 

The shad bush , or Juneberry, is usually a shrub from ten to 
twenty feet high, but at times it grows to tree proportions. The 
older stems are grayish brown and seamed with shallow longi¬ 
tudinal cracks, while the slonder young stems are grayish green 
or brown. The buds are very slender. The leaves are elliptical 
to oval, with saw-toothed edges and acute tips. The berry-like 









COMMON TREES 


337 



Fig. 263.—Witch-hazel fruit 


fruit is red, but later turns dark as it becomes very ripe, and it is 
then quite delicious. The tree is also known as the service berry 
or sugarplum. 

The mountain ash is a tree commonly known by its fruit. 
The great clusters of berries are green at first, later yellow, and 
finally bright red, lasting for 
the winter or until they are 
eaten by the birds. The leaf 
is pinnately compound; the 
bark is yellow brown with con¬ 
spicuous horizontal breathing 
pores. The dark purplish-red 
terminal buds are large, over 
half an inch long, and the 
point is curved, making them 
sufficiently distinctive to serve alone as a means of identification 

of the tree. While not ordinarily 
large it is ornamental throughout 
the year. 

The wild crab is a low tree, ten 
to thirty feet high, that grows in 
impenetrable thickets; it is covered 
in the spring, as the leaves are 
appearing, with its wonderful pink 
blossoms. The branches are very 
irregular and are. almost thorny 
with the numerous fruit spurs. 
By the end of May the young 
apples are formed, and from then until late fall they mark the 
tree with an easily recognized character. They are green, an 
inch or more in diameter when full-grown. After they have 
fallen they lie all winter in profusion on the ground under the 
trees; not until they have frozen and thawed repeatedly are 
they soft enough for food, nor are they palatable. In the spring, 
when softened, blue jays and squirrels feast upon them. 





338 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The mulberry is a small tree, fifteen to forty feet high, with a 
spreading crown. The trunk breaks low into several very 
crooked branches so that the general effect is that of an apple 
tree. If the leaves are on the tree their very Varied shapes 
distinguish it at once; no better illustration is to be had of the 
variability in the parts of an organism (Fig. 265). The bark is 
dark reddish brown. The twigs show a milky juice when cut. 
The leaf scars are two-ranked, circular or nearly so, and the 


Fig. 265.—Mulberry leaves, all from one tree, showing the great variation 
in leaf form. 


bundle scars are raised. The terminal bud is absent. The red 
mulberry has dark-margined bud scales on its shiny green to 
brown buds, which measure one-fourth inch long. The buds of 
the white mulberry are not shiny and are smaller, only one- 
eighth inch long. The fruit is somewhat like a raspberry, red 
in the one and white in the other species, and is a favorite food 
of the birds. 

Methods of tree-study.—It is suggested that pupils be 
required to make drawings of the trees, their leaves, fruits, twigs, 
and trunks. It is surprising how much even the younger pupils 







COMMON TREES 


339 


will get out of this sort of work. Take the class out to some 
selected tree that stands in the open and therefore shows its shape 
and characters well. Let each pupil be provided with a -block 
of drawing paper and a soft pencil. Seat the class around the 
tree, a hundred feet or more away from it, as the pupils become 
confused with details when too near. Then just ask them to 
make a drawing of the tree. Probably many of them will object, 
saying they cannot draw; this is particularly true of the older 
pupils, who feel that unless they have had drawing lessons it is a 
hopeless task. But all you are asking them to do is to make some 
marks on paper, and surely any pupil can do that. The difficulty 
is that they do not know where to make the marks, but that is 
overcome by studying the object. At the outset they need 
simply to draw an outline showing the shape and proportions of 
the tree. For the purposes of tree-study it is just as well to let 
the pupils blunder ahead, insisting that they make some attempt 
to do what you are asking them. Then go around from pupil 
to pupil asking them suggestive questions such as these: How 
wide is the tree as compared with its height ? How far up the 
tree are the first branches as compared with its height ? If the 
pupils will hold themselves to seeing such features before they 
express on paper what they see you will find that they will make 
fairly accurate studies of the general outline of the tree without 
much difficulty. A drawing is an expression of facts or of ideas, 
and the pupil must have the fact in mind before he attempts to 
express it (Fig. 266). 

Suggestions on drawing trees .—After the trees have been 
drawn in outline ask the pupils to stand up in a circle facing in 
and to hold the drawings in front of them so that each member 
of the class may see all the' drawings. The moderately suc¬ 
cessful sketches will then help all pupils to see how it can be done. 
Keep these drawings and the next day make the exercise include 
not simply the general shape of the tree but also filling in the 
trunk and branches and the general mass of the foliage. The 
latter of course is not to be done in detail but merely shaded in. 


340 


OUR LIVING WORLD 



You will lind the pupils filling in the trunk from top to bottom 
and adding branches in their entirety, although the foliage really 
hides the greater part of them. Again insist that they draw 


Fig. 266.—A hard maple (a pupil’s drawing) 

only what they see, and when you have pointed out to one or two 
pupils that they cannot see the trunk which they have drawn 
they will all realize their mistake and proceed to look more 
closely. Perhaps some one pupil in the class will see that the 
tree is not equally shaded, but is dark on one side and light on 






COMMON TREES 


34i 


the other, that the sky is visible through the mass of the tree in 
spots, and that there are areas of light and shade in the mass of 
the foliage. Commend such keen-eyed pupils and show the 
drawings to all members of the class. If the drawing teacher 
can be induced to help in this work it will be an advantage, 
provided she does not embarrass the pupils by too great insistence 
on technique. 

Drawing a means of expression .—The little child uses pencil 
and paper as a means of expression and does not hesitate to draw 
anything that comes to mind. Old Mother Hubbard is shown 
going to the cupboard, and the child shows the bare shelves inside 
of the closed cupboard and feels no guilt at faulty technique. 
It is to be feared that in our attempt to create the technique we 
have made the pupil so conscious of his inability that we have 
checked his natural tendency to use drawing as a means of 
expression. The teacher must try to develop accuracy and skill, 
but by expression, not repression. The nature-study teacher 
will do well to try her own hand at the drawing task which she 
sets her pupils, and if her drawing turns out the worst of the 
lot it will not be surprising but will be an encouragement to 
the pupils. It may be that she needs to learn to see accurately 
quite as much as any of the class. Leaf, fruit, twig, and bark 
characters that are distinctive may be sketched by the pupils to 
fix in mind characteristic features. 

Name the trees .—The suggestions given in the preceding 
pages will help both student and teacher to name the common 
trees of the neighborhood, and that is the first step in an intimate 
acquaintance with the trees. There is given at the end of the 
chapter also a key to the common trees which will help determine 
the genus by easily observed characters. Then the more detailed 
descriptions of the text will enable the pupil to identify the 
common species. The key is used through the courtesy of the 
Government Forestry Department, in one of whose bulletins, 
Jackson’s Forestry in Nature Study , it appeared. When one has 
learned to recognize individual trees with certainty because of 


342 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


some specific character, he will soon come to know the trees in a 
way that will not depend on any single characteristic. Form 
and habit of growth, color and peculiarities of foliage, bark 
characters and location, all will appeal in definite ways and 
identify what one names with certainty without perhaps knowing 
just how. 

A tree map .—It is a very excellent scheme in starting tree- 
study to begin with the trees in a definitely circumscribed area. 
It may seem quite a task to learn the trees of the neighborhood, 
but if some single portion be taken—the school grounds, the 
courthouse yard, or a block bounded by definite streets—the 
pupils will attack such a small problem with a great deal of zest. 
It is always well to try to present the nature-work in the form of 
such small problems. Let the pupils draw a map of the area, 
showing streets, sidewalks, and lots, and then locate the trees by 
dots. All of the trees of the same sort may be numbered alike, 
the names of the trees being given in an alphabetical list at one 
corner of the sheet. It may be that there are to be found only 
four or five different kinds of trees in the given area, but after 
the pupils have determined them with some degree of certainty 
a second area with more unknowns upon it may be attacked, and 
soon the pupils will come to have confidence in their ability to 
hunt down an unknown tree for themselves, as well as an intimate 
knowledge of the commoner trees. 

Collections .—Another excellent aid to tree-study is the 
preparation of collections of leaves, fruits, and sections of tree 
trunks. Leaves or sprays of leaves are best obtained in the 
spring, before they have been whipped to pieces by winds or 
disfigured by the depredations of insects. They may be pressed 
between sheets of blotting paper, or in lieu of these an old maga¬ 
zine may be taken out on the collecting trips and the leaves 
inserted between its pages. It is well to label the specimen at 
once by inserting with the specimen a slip of paper bearing its 
name if that is known or the location of the tree if it must be 
identified later. The sheets of blotting paper or the magazine 


COMMON TREES 


343 


should be put under a heavy weight to press the specimens out 
smoothly. The specimens should be carefully spread before 
putting them into press and at the end of twelve hours or so they 
should be transferred to dry papers, for if this is not done the 
specimens will blacken instead of drying in their natural colors. 
It may be well to change them a second time in the course of 
twenty-four hours, especially if the leaves are at all thick. 

Mounting specimens .—Such leaf specimens may be mounted 
on the unruled pages of an ordinary notebook or, better still, in 
a loose-leaf notebook. A still better way, however, is to mount 
the specimens on a large sheet of gray cardboard and later collect 
the blossoms, bark, and fruit and mount them on the same card. 
The blossoms should be pressed in the same way as the leaves. 
It may be a revelation to many pupils to find that trees have 
blossoms; we are familiar with the conspicuous tree blossoms, 
such as the pussies of the willow, the handsome blossoms of the 
catalpa or the magnolia, but many trees have inconspicuous 
blossoms and their discovery will repay patient observation. 

The fruits of many of the trees are dry and may be pressed 
in much the same way as the leaves and blossoms. Some fruits, 
like the acorns, will need to be only collected in the fall and 
fastened to the card. In some cases, where the fruits are soft 
and berry-like, they will need to be preserved in a small bottle 
in some preserving fluid. Five or 6 per cent formaldehyde is 
good, since it will preserve the color of the fruit. Alcohol is very 
likely to extract the color. The formalin obtained at the drug 
store is' a 40 per cent solution ordinarily and will need to be 
diluted with five or six times its bulk of water. The small vials 
of fruit or the large dry fruits may be attached to the card by 
means of fine wire or thread; the pressed leaves and flowers may 
be attached by touching their back surfaces with glue at a 
number of points and then placing the sheets under light pressure 
until the glue has hardened. Enough of the bark can be stripped 
off of some dead trunk or limb to afford a good specimen. If this 
is moistened it can be pressed out flat without breaking, and the 


344 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


specimen may be attached to the card with fine wire. The cards 
for mounting should be of uniform size and fairly large, say 
fifteen by twenty-two inches. Such displays of the trees of 
the neighborhood may be hung up on occasions about the 
schoolroom and make effective decorations. Ordinarily they 
should be kept in a cupboard or cabinet, where they can be 
readily referred to and still not be exposed to dust and too great 
wear and tear. 

The tree notebook .—Pupils may collect smaller samples of 
leaves, blossoms, and bark to press and mount in their notebooks, 
and the bulky fruits may be sketched rather than mounted. It 
is well worth while for. the pupils to prepare books which may be 
made of loose leaves, both ruled and unruled, and fitted with a 
cover of brown paper (Fig. 267). Tree sketches and leaf and 
fruit mounts are made on the unruled paper; notes on the trees, 
brief descriptions, distinguishing characters, locations, abstracts 
of readings, are written upon the ruled paper; the cover may be 
decorated with an appropriate design. Such a tree book may be 
carried from grade to grade and become a very interesting and 
instructive student product or the tree booklet may be considered 
as one chapter of the general nature-study notebook. 

Collections of woods .—It will be found valuable to make a 
collection of woods of the neighborhood to show their characters. 
Cut a two-foot length from the tree trunk where the diameter is 
great enough to show the character of the mature bark; saw 
this in half lengthwise, then plane off and sandpaper a half of this 
surface and oil and varnish a portion of the smoothed surface so 
as to show the wood in the rough, smoothed, and finished states. 
A half of the end of the specimen may be smoothed and finished 
in the same way, and if the other end be cut diagonally at an 
angle of forty-five degrees this surface, when smoothed and 
finished, will show the grain of the wood more effectively than 
any other portion. Such specimens may easily be prepared by 
the boys in the manual-training shops or by pupils at home, 
and if each boy prepares only one such specimen it will bring 


COMMON TREES 


345 


together a valuable addition to the school collection, especially 
if the work be continued year after year. 

Uses of common woods .—Such preparation of specimens will 
lead the pupils to an appreciation of the properties of the various 



Fig. 267.—A student’s title-page 


woods and to a discussion of their uses. It is a matter of 
common knowledge that oak lumber is used for furniture, maple 
for flooring, and hemlock for rough lumber, but the average 
individual knows little more about the uses of woods; and yet 
hardly any one of the trees growing in the locality has not some 








346 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


use in the arts. If the pupils will inquire of their parents they 
can find out many of the uses of the common woods, and the 
encyclopedias or the books given in the bibliography of this 
chapter will help them to look up the uses that the neighborhood 
may not know. Our grandparents knew more of these things 
when they were forced to manufacture many articles that we buy 
at the nearby store. 

Woods in furniture .—It makes an interesting exercise to have 
the pupils try to name the woods to be found in the various 
articles of furniture about the schoolroom and homes. It is a 
matter of practical concern that we should know something of 
the woods that are used in furniture and be able to recognize 
them; otherwise we may readily be inveigled into buying cheap 
woods that are finished to imitate the real thing and pay ridicu¬ 
lous prices for cheap articles. The beauty of furniture is due 
quite as much to the way in which wood is cut as it is to the 
character of the wood used. Thus “ quarter-sawed ” oak is much 
more beautiful than is the ordinary straight-sawed oak because 
of the display of the grain. Let some pupil find out what is 
meant by “quarter-sawed.” Many of our finer woods are too 
valuable to be made into solid furniture. The furniture of our 
grandparents’ time was often solid black walnut or mahogany, 
but nowadays we achieve quite as beautiful results by the 
use of veneer. Let some of the older pupils find out how veneer 
is cut and how it is applied. What are the cheaper woods 
that are used as the backing for veneer ? The manner of cut¬ 
ting makes veneer more beautifully grained than even the solid 
wood, so that furniture of today is probably more attractive 
than it ever has been, as far at least as the beauty of the 
wood is concerned. 

Lumbering.—In connection with this work in nature-study 
the teacher may take up with the pupils the history of the log 
from its cutting in the forest to its use in the manufactured 
article. Such articles on lumbering as those suggested in the list 
of books in this chapter will give the pupils a clear notion of the 


COMMON TREES 


347 


lumbering processes and of the romantic life of the men who start 
the forest products on the way to our doors. 

How the tree grows.—One of the questions that is sure to 
come up in connection with the graining of woods is the problem of 
the growth of the tree and how it comes about that the wood is 
arranged in concentric layers. When the shoot of the germinat¬ 
ing seed first appears above the ground it is made up of soft tissue 
which easily breaks. We are familiar with the shoots of aspara¬ 
gus, which are so tender and crisp that they break if bent. The 
tree shoot does not grow as tall as marketable asparagus before 
it begins to be strengthened by the development of fibrous 
elements which are necessary to any plant that is going to stand 
up successfully against the storms and the strains of its ordinary 
environment. Even the asparagus shoot is strengthened in this 
way before it is very old, and ordinarily the basal part of the shoot, 
as we buy the asparagus in the market, is quite tough and fibrous. 

Plant cells .—This tissue that is constantly being formed 
during the growth of the plant, as in fact any growing portion 
of a living thing, is made up of tiny bits of living material, each 
inclosed more or less perfectly in a wall. These building units 
are called cells, a term that is rather unfortunate, for it suggests 
a walled-in space, while as a matter of fact the animal or plant 
cell is never such unless it is dead. It is a viscid mass of living 
material called protoplasm, the outer part of which is differen¬ 
tiated into the wall. These cells are ordinarily crowded close 
together so that the spherical form is readily changed to that of 
a solid bounded by flat faces. Plant cells are very small, usually 
not over a five-hundredth of an inch in diameter, and the animal 
cells are still smaller. They may be seen under an ordinary 
linen-tester in some tissues in which they are very large, as the 
basal part of the hair on the stamens of spiderwort flowers or in 
the rapidly growing shoots of elderberry. But it takes a power¬ 
ful microscope to give a very good view of them. 

How fibers form .—In the rapidly growing shoots some of these 
cells adhere in strings and their adjacent walls give way, so that 


34 & 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the chain of cells comes to be a long fiber. The walls of this 
fiber thicken and grow tough and thus the strengthening elements 
are formed. Bundles of such fibers are laid down in the soft 
tissues, and in all our trees of the temperate zone these fiber 
bundles are laid down in a circle with the center of the stem as its 
center. The fiber bundles run chiefly up and down the stem 
(Fig. 268). 

Fibrovascular bundles. —In any rapidly growing shoot the 
upper end is necessarily somewhat far removed from the roots, 


which are busy absorbing water 
and raw food stuff from the 
ground. The roots, in turn, are 
far away from the leaves, which 
are also absorbing crude plant 
food from the air. There must 
needs be some means of trans- 



Fig. 268— Longitudinal section ferring these substances from 

of a stem (partial), showing bundle Qne t of the lant to ano ther, 

r\f dntrnl n rr on/i XTOCColc in 


of developing fibers and vessels in 
embryonic tissue. 


and so, in connection with the 
fibers, there develop conductive 


vessels, formed in a very similar way, and these bundles of fibers 
and vessels are known as the fibrovascular bundles. 

Rings of growth. —The cross-section of a young growing stem 
shows the soft tissue of the stem, with a ring of these fibro¬ 
vascular bundles, also seen in cross-section, imbedded in it. 
The fibers of the bundle are chiefly on the side of the bundle 
toward the bark, while the vessels are more numerous on the 
inner side, and the two portions are separated by a layer of 
the softer tissue. The bundles grow larger until they squeeze 
the soft tissue between them into strands and flakes. There is 
thus formed an outer ring of material that is largely fibrous and 
an inner ring largely vascular or woody and between the two a 
soft layer known as the cambium layer; these three rings of 
tissue surround a cylinder of soft tissue at the center of the stem. 
Such is the condition at the end of the first year of growth. The 












COMMON TREES 


349 


following spring the cambium layer increases very greatly in 
thickness and in it new fibrovascular bundles appear which 
run through the same course as those of the first year, so that 
there is added to the outside of the forming wood cylinder a new 
wood layer and to the inside of the bark a new bark layer (Fig. 
269). As this occurs year after year the wood of the trunk in¬ 
creases in thickness; the bark would do so too, but the bark 
layers are added to the inside of the old bark, which must crack 



Fig. 269. —Left-hand figure, cross-section of ash stem (Bulletin No. 299, 
Department of Agriculture); right-hand figure, part of the cross-section of a larch 
stem (United States Forest Service, Bulletin No. 122). 


in order to make room for the new; its outer layers become so 
broken that they easily weather off. 

The whistle layer .—The spring increase in the thickness of 
this cambium layer makes possible the whistle, made from the 
willow or poplar. Making such a whistle is an experience every 
child should have. In early spring cut from a twig a piece three 
inches long and as big around as the middle finger; select a piece 
that is free from buds or branches. Cut one end off diagonally, 
as shown in the sketch, and also cut a notch near this end through 
the bark and well into the wood. With a sharp knife cut through 
the bark with a circular cut near the other end and then lay the 





































35 ° 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


twig down on something firm and, holding the knife by the blade, 
pound the bark of the twig all over. This breaks up the cambium 
layer, and when the bark is so loosened it may be twisted off as a 
cylinder. Cut the inner wood cylinder as shown in the sketch 
(Fig. 270), moisten it, and slip the bark back on. The whistle 
should be ready for use. 

Age of a tree .—Under ordinary conditions a layer of wood is 
formed each year. The wood laid down in the spring is relatively 
coarse, since growth is very rapid and the vessels are large. 
Toward fall, however, growth is slow and the vessels formed are 
much smaller. Thus the annual layers are differentiated from 
each other, being porous on one side 
and much denser on the other. Thus 
the cut end of a tree trunk shows 
distinct rings. If a cold spell comes 
in the middle of the summer, or if 
other adverse conditions prevent 
the customary rate of growth, two 
layers may be differentiated in a 
single season. It follows, therefore, 
that the number of rings on a tree 
stump do not indicate the absolute 
age of the tree, but in temperate 
America the age estimated in this 
way probably does not differ from the correct age by more than 
5 per cent. 

Local forests.—In the upper grades it would seem advisable 
that the study of the local trees should be followed by a study of 
local forestry conditions. Such a local study will demonstrate 
what part of the particular region is woodland and, in most parts 
of the Middle West at least, it will demonstrate how little wood¬ 
land there really is. Let a map be drawn of the township in 
which the school is located and on the map show the wooded 
areas. It may take considerable inquiry to find out just where 
the forests are located and how extensive they are, but usually 


<z> 





. 7 




h 


Fig. 270.—Diagrams of wil¬ 
low twig showing the way it is 
cut to make a whistle. 










COMMON TREES 


35i 


owners will furnish the information on request and the county 
tax assessor or register of deeds will willingly help to locate 
doubtful areas. 

Our forest wealth.—It would be well if this local study could 
be extended to embrace the whole country so as to give the 
pupils an appreciation of the problem of forest conservation 
which confronts us. Originally we had, in round numbers, 
nearly a billion acres of forest-covered land in the United 
States; now approximately one-half of it is gone. The largest 
portion of what is left, some two hundred million acres, is in the 
farmers’ wood lots; about one hundred and fifty million acres 
is in large private estates; the national forests contain about a 
hundred and sixty-three million acres; and the state forest reserves 
another nine million acres. Michigan, once provided with as 
magnificent forests as grow, disposed of its holdings to private 
individuals or corporations at prices that now seem ridiculous, 
and the state now owns only four thousand acres of forest land. 
Much of its original holdings were sold with little thought of the 
future, apparently almost squandered with lavish hand. It is 
useless to discuss the wisdom of such a policy now, but we must 
be awake to the fact that a large part of our national forest 
inheritance is gone, to be recovered, if ever, only by intelligent 
policies of repurchase and conservative care. We cannot depend 
on the ordinary avaricious individual to subordinate his imme¬ 
diate interests to the future welfare of the country. 

Our timber cut .—We are using our lumber much more rapidly 
than any other civilized country. It is estimated that we use 
two hundred and sixty cubic feet per year for every person in the 
United States; Germany uses thirty-seven cubic feet, France 
twenty-six, and Italy eighteen, under normal conditions. As 
on every acre of forest that we own we grow on an average twelve 
cubic feet of wood a year and we cut off forty cubic feet, it is 
evident that we are drawing heavily on our capital stock. More 
than that, we are careless in the cutting and milling of our 
lumber; five-eighths of the lumber cut in the forest is destroyed 


s 


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t 







iflU* 


•o^or 


^1* T 


TOS* 


•'CAnyA 


J LJQU'LI.0! 

PORTO RICO 





1 0 

7 

\n,c. 


^T.saJ 



rj S 

n 

r-* \ i2 



Eta 2 

®cr 4 

1 

j 

*r 

1 0 * 

H 0 


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Fig. 271.—Map showing 


































































national forest reserves 
































3 54 


OCR LIVING WORLD 


in lumbering and milling, so that only three-eighths of the 
cut is really used; the wood in a chair represents only three- 
eighths of what was cut to make the chair. The loss in cut¬ 
ting the trees in the forest is estimated at about 20 per cent, 
in milling into lumber at 17 per cent, and in manufacturing into 
the finished product at 30 per cent. Such are some of the 
striking facts in the whole problem of the conservation of our 
timber supply. The appreciation of such facts must lead to the 
continuance of our national policy of forest conservation and to 
the extension of this policy both in the nation and in the states. 

National reserces .—There is given herewith a map showing 
the forest reserves of the United States (Fig. 271). It will be 
noted that these are largely in the western states, for the forests 
of the eastern states had practically all been cut off or had 
passed into the hands of private individuals before the govern¬ 
ment realized the necessity of careful conservation of our forest 
resources. Now the government is buying back, in some of the 
eastern and southern states, generous areas of ‘forest lands, 
especially those about the headwaters of important streams, so 
as to make forest reservations. 

Care of forests .—The methods employed in handling the 
government forests are instructive and are worthy of imitation 
on both large and small estates (Fig. 272). Forest rangers are 
employed to keep a lookout through the forests and to see that 
no fires gain a start. During the time of the year when the 
forests are very dry they spend much of their time on vantage- 
points from which they can see the country. If a wisp of smoke 
arises somewhere within the forest they hasten to the spot to 
learn the cause; not infrequently campers have unwisely left a 
smoldering fire or a blaze has been started in some other way 
which the ranger extinguishes. If he finds this task beyond his 
individual power he has the right to demand help from settlers, 
campers, or any other persons within his domain, and so he 
can usually keep the fire within narrow bounds until it burns 
itself out. 














OUR LIVING WORLD 


356 


Losses from fires.—These forest fires have been the sources 
of tremendous losses (Fig. 273). It is roughly estimated that 
in the history of this country we have had destroyed by fire quite 
as much timber as we have used. Probably, on an average, 
fifty million dollars’ worth of standing timber is destroyed 
annually by fires. Such fires are a source of grave danger to the 
settlers who are living in the forest areas and thousands of lives 
have been lost in this way. The fury and rate of progress of a 



Fig. 273.—A burned-over region 


forest fire are almost inconceivable; a wall of flame advances 
that withers everything before it; tongues of flame leap up and 
run to the tops of the standing trees, leaving them charred stubs. 
The scene after the fire passes is one of unspeakable devastation 
(Fig. 274); the ground is blackened, and often the fire smolders 
in it for weeks, unless a drenching rain follows. The ground is 
littered with charred logs and every living thing has disappeared; 
most of the trees have fallen and been burned; only a few of the 
sturdier ones are left as ruined remnants. Frequently the sur¬ 
face layers of the vegetable mold are so completely burned out 





COMMON TREES 


357 


that there are no tree seeds left; no new trees are therefore 
started the following year, but the area is planted with the wind¬ 
blown seeds of annual and other weeds. The government has 
had to replant thousands of acres of such burned-over lands in 
the national reservations. 

Soil erosion .—In time trees may begin to get a hold on the 
soil, but frequently, especially in hilly country, the more or less 
burned-out humus is washed away when the protection of the 



Fig. 274.—A closer view of the burn 


forest is gone and the hillsides become bare masses of rock, so 
that reforesting is practically impossible. A forest fire is there¬ 
fore not simply a means of temporary destruction of the forest, 
but it removes the possibility of any forest cover for many 
centuries. The government wisely tries to prevent the fires in 
the national forests and money spent in prevention is evidently 
wisely spent. 

Unwise methods of cutting.—A second source of tremendous 
loss in the forests has been unwise methods of cutting. The 














OUR LIVING WORLD 


358 

axrpan goes through the forest cutting down everything, both 
mature and young trees. He leaves the trimmings, branches and 
tops, to litter the ground after the logs have been hauled off, 
so that much lumber that could be manufactured into small 
articles, like clothespins and spools, is left to decay. Often this 
waste material dries as it lies and comes to be a source of fires 
which gather headway in the debris and invade adjacent stand- 



Fig. 275.—Pine seedlings under old trees 


ing timber. In the government reserves these trimmings are 
burned while the snow is on the ground or after heavy rains, 
and then only after such small timber has been cut out as is 
serviceable for cordwood or for the manufacture of small wooden 
utensils. 

Replanting.—Often the land is cleared completely by the 
lumberman and then it needs replanting. A certain small iron 
furnace at Marquette, Michigan, which smelts its ore with 
charcoal, cleans off fifteen acres of the finest hardwood forest 




COMMON TREES 


359 


daily in order to furnish the wood for making the charcoal. 
Some of this land is sold for farming purposes, but much of it is 
valuable only as forest land; it is such land that needs replanting. 
The government in its forestry operations permits only the 
mature trees to be cut, and if a stand of timber consists only of 
mature trees, enough of them are left to seed the ground beneath 
(Fig. 275). 

Seedlings .—In many species of forest trees the seedlings grow 
only under the shade of other trees. On the eastern shore of 
Lake Michigan there is a barren sandy region which was formerly 
covered with a forest of white pine. The owner of a large area 
of this territory decided, on expert advice, to replant with white 
pine, since it seemed reasonable to suppose that inasmuch as 
white pine had once grown there to splendid size it would grow 
again. But when practically all of the fifty thousand young pine 
trees set out in the initial experiment died it was realized that 
white-pine seedlings demand shelter in their early years of growth. 
It is necessary to begin such a forest with trees like the cotton¬ 
wood, which will stand the untoward conditions of an exposed 
area. The pines may be planted when the cottonwoods afford 
adequate shelter. 

Reforestation .—The government is planting , the seeds of 
forest trees in those parts of the forest reservations that are not 
needed for agricultural purposes (Fig. 27b). Already many 
thousands of acres have been planted and on much of this land 
a healthy stand of timber is already under way. Nearly six 
thousand acres were planted with seed in 1915 and almost 
thirty-five million trees were set out on nine thousand seven 
hundred and thirty-one acres. 

The farmer’s wood lot.—It will be recalled that quite as much 
of the standing timber in this country is owned by the farmers 
in their small wood lots as is owned by the government in its 
forest reservations, and almost as much is in the large private 
estates. On the estates careful methods of cutting and pre¬ 
caution against fire are already quite common. The small 


360 


OUR LIVING WORLD 



forest holder, the farmer with his wood lot, is usually the last 
individual to appreciate the need of careful management. As a 
rule the wood lot is cluttered with fallen trees that are in all 
stages of decay and that are infected with fungi whose spores are 
blown about by every wind. These spores frequently find lodg¬ 
ment in wounds on growing trees and are thus a constant source of 


Fig. 276. —Replanting forest land (United States Forest Service, Bulletin 
No. 98). 

timber diseases, depreciating the value of the timber that is grown. 
The fallen timber is also the breeding place of many wood-boring 
insect larvae and these are a constant menace to the standing tim¬ 
ber, for as the insects become more numerous the larvae attack 
not only the timber that is down but also that standing. 

In cutting the timber little or no attention is paid to the need 
of taking out only the mature trees. If posts are wanted, for 





COMMON TREES 


36T 

instance, the small trees are cut rather than take down the big 
ones and split the logs. Little or no attention is paid to replant¬ 
ing. In many sections of the country the average farmer pos¬ 
sesses ten or twenty acres of land that is too rough for agricultural 
purposes and often is too poor to even afford good pasturage. 
Such land might frequently be made to bear a valuable crop of 
timber. The author recalls a forty-acre piece of black walnut 
that was planted on river bottom land, usually flooded by the 
spring freshets and very rough with glacial bowlders. A wise 
settler, three generations back, had used some of his spare time 
to gather the walnuts from a nearby tree and with a hoe had 
planted them on this worthless land. While it had not given a 
valuable return to that man, it had increased very materially the 
value of his estate in the course of time, for the black-walnut 
timber on it some sixty years after planting was purchased for 
more than all the rest of the farm was worth, and it was a farm 
of more than two hundred acres in the best agricultural district 
of southern Wisconsin. 


KEY TO COMMON KINDS OF TREES 1 

The following key is intended only as a guide in the identification of 
the more common kinds of trees. It is based on prominent, distinctive 
characters which can readily be observed by those who have no special 
training in botany. Most of the terms used require no explanation. 

To use the key, decide first, by an examination of the leaf, in which of 
the following seven sections your tree belongs; then turn to that section 
and from the descriptions there given determine what kind of tree it is. 

SECTION 

Trees with needles, or scalelike leaves, mostly evergreens, bearing 


cones. I 

Trees with broad leaves 
Leaves simple 

Alternately attached to twigs 

With toothed edges. II 

Edges neither toothed nor notched. Ill 


1 By William H. Lamb, Scientific Assistant in Dendrology. 





362 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Opposite on twigs section 

With toothed edges. IV 

Edges neither toothed nor notched. V 

Leaves compound 

Alternately attached to twigs. VI 

Opposite on twigs. VII 


THE CONIFEROUS 1 TREES 

I. Trees with needles, or scalelike leaves, mostly evergreen, bearing cones 

A. Leaves needle-shaped 

1. Leaves clustered 

a) Leaves long, from 1 to 18 inches, 2 to 5 in a cluster. 

Cones large, with many thick, woody scales ( Pinus ) Pine 

b ) Leaves short (less than 2 inches long) in brushlike clusters 
of 12 to 40; falling off in winter. Cones very small, with 
thin scales; remaining on tree for one or more seasons 

(Larix) Larch 2 

2. Leaves single 

a) Leaves scattered around twigs; falling off when dry or 
dead. Cones elongated, with thin scales. Twigs rough¬ 
ened by leaf scars 

x Leaves stiff, often sharp-pointed, and more or less four¬ 
sided (Picea) Spruce 

y Leaves soft, flat, rounded, or notched at ends, the bases 

abruptly contracted into threadlike stems ( Tsugo ) Hemlock 

b ) Leaves in two distinct rows, one on each side of the twig; 

falling off in late autumn or winter. Cones small, ball¬ 
like ( Taxodium ) Bald Cypress 

c ) Leaves often in two rows on the tops and sides of the 

twigs; leaves on lower branches mostly flat, those on 
upper branches stouter. Cones long, erect, forming only 
on upper side of topmost branches; the scales falling off 
in autumn, leaving spikelike central axes of the cones 
attached (Abies) Fir 

B. Leaves scalelike, pointed, overlapping closely on flat or four¬ 
sided twigs 

1. Twigs four-sided. Cones round or ball-like, with small, 

thick scales; seed with very narrow, hard wings 

(Cupressus) Cypress 

1 Cone-bearing.' 

2 The larches are peculiar in having single, scattered leaves on the new or 
terminal twigs produced each season. These should not be mistaken for the 
“single” leaves borne throughout by other kinds of evergreens. 






COMMON TREES 


3^3 


2. Twigs flattened 

a) Cones elongated, with only a few thin scales; bent back 

on branches {Thuja) Arbor Vitae 

b) Cones round, very small, berry-like with thin scales; 

seeds with a broad, thin wing on two sides {Chamcecyparis) Cedar 

c ) Cones berry-like (showing no separation into scale parts). 

Leaves either short, scalelike, and sharp-pointed or much 
longer, needle-like, standing out loosely, and attached in 

pairs or in threes on the twigs ( Juniperus ) Juniper 

THE BROADLEAF TREES 
II. Leaves simple, alternate, with toothed edges 

A. Leaves deeply lobed, or with large notches 

1. Leaves as wide as they are long. Fruit a swinging ball, 1 to 
1^ inches in diameter 

a) Leaves with finely toothed margins; star-shaped, the 
divisions pointed. Fruit, burlike balls, from which, when 
ripe, small, winged seeds may be shaken. Bark rough 

(Liquidambar) Sweet Gum 

b ) Leaves with smooth margins, 3 to 5 inches long, pointed 

lobes, the space between the lobes rounded. Fruit, a 
rough ball, easily broken when ripe; composed of closely 
packed, long, narrow seeds which have hairlike bristles 
at their lower ends and are attached to a bullet-like central 
part. Old bark of trunks and large limbs peeling off in 
thin, curled pieces, leaving pale inner bark showing in 
irregular patches {Platanus) Sycamore 

2. Leaves longer than wide 

a) Leaves large with deep, round-topped, or pointed lobes. 

Fruit, an acorn, resting in a separable cup ( Quercus ) Oak 

b) Leaves small, with little, sharp teeth on margin. Twigs 

bearing sharp thorns. Fruit small (like a little apple), 
round, with bony seeds (hard core) {Cratcegus) Hawthorn 

B. Leaves one-sided (one side of leaf shorter at base than the other 
side) 

1. Leaves large, oval, 5 to 10 inches long, heart-shaped. Fruit, 

a cluster of small, woody balls f to £ inch in diameter, hang¬ 
ing from a narrow, leaflike blade ( Tilia ) Basswood 

2. Leaves 3-veined at base, with long, tapering points, which 
generally turn to one side; edges smooth, or with small teeth 
of uniform size. Fruit, a small berry about l inch in diameter 

(Celtis) Hackberry 


3 6 4 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


3. Leaves with straight veins, oval; edges double-toothed (little 
teeth on the larger ones). Fruit in clusters, dry, flat, with 
papery wings all around the seeds ( Ultnus) Elm 

C. Leaves even-sided (both sides of leaf the same length) 

1. Leaves oval, evergreen, thick, with short needle-like teeth. 

Fruit, a bright-red berry (Ilex) Holly 

2. Leaves more or less elongated, with one tooth at the end of 
each side vein 

a) Trees with smooth, bluish-gray bark, and long, pointed, 
chestnut-brown buds. Fruit, a small, three-cornered 
nut, in a spiny husk which splits open at the top into 

three parts (Fagus) Beech 

b) Trees with ridged, grayish-brown bark. Fruit, a large, 

round nut in a thick husk covered with dense, needle-like 
spines; the husk splits open from the top into 3 or 4 
divisions (Castanea) Chestnut 

3. Leaves very narrow, finely toothed. Small branches slender, 
usually tough. Fruit, a long cluster of little pods filled with 

“ cotton ” (Salix) Willow 

4. Leaves somewhat triangular in outline, broad at base, large- 
toothed. Buds of some species coated with aromatic gum. 

Branches coarse. Fruit, a long cluster of little pods filled % 
with “cotton” (Populus) Poplar 

5. Leaves oval, pointed, with sawlike teeth 

a) Fruit like a tiny pine cone 

x Bark of trunk and branches peeling off in thin sheets. 

Leaves double-toothed (little teeth on the larger ones). 

Fruit (“cones”) scaly, falling apart when ripe; seeds 
with gauzelike wings on two sides ( Betula ) Birch 

y Bark smooth or broken, but not peeling. Leaves with 
small teeth. “Cones” hard, woody, not falling apart; 
seed with narrow wings on two sides (Alnus) Alder 

b) Fruit, a berry; fleshy, edible 

x Leaves large, 3-veined at base, often irregularly, deeply 
lobed; containing milky juice. Fruit similar in 
appearance to a blackberry (Morus) Mulberry 

y Leaves small or medium-sized, feather-veined; con¬ 
taining green juice; fruit (cherry or plum) with one 
seed 

i. Seed (“stone”) flattened. Fruit large and short¬ 
stemmed ( Prunus ) Plum 

ii. Seed round. Fruit small and long-stemmed 

(Prunus) Cherry 


COMMON TREES 


365 


III. Leaves simple, alternate, edge neither toothed nor notched 

A. Leaves with deep lobes 

1. Leaves with blunt ends (appearing as if cut off), and with 
two pointed side lobes. Flowers tulip-like. Fruit conelike, 
pointed, upright, composed of long, thin, overlapping, winged 
seeds. Bruised twigs have a peppery odor 

(Liriodendron) Tulip Poplar 

2. Leaves with rounded ends; oval, often with a lobe on one 
side, making the leaf mitten-shaped. Bruised twigs and 

inner bark of trunk sweet-smelling ( Sassafras ) Sassafras 

B. Leaves without lobes 

1. Bruised twigs with peppery odor 

a) Leaves oval (evergreen in one species) or elongated, 
pointed, large. Flowers large, at ends of branches. 

Fruit conelike, with a bright-red seed in each division 

( Magnolia) Magnolia 

2. Bruised twigs without peppery odor 

a) Leaves broader at top than at the base, 8 to 12 inches 
long, with very short leafstalk. Fruit fleshy, elongated, 

3 to 4 inches long, with thick, brown skin when ripe, and 

large, bony, flat seeds. Buds brown and hairy (Asimina) Pawpaw 

b) Leaves oval, elongated, 3 to 7 inches long. Fruit, plum¬ 
like, round, 1 to i| inches in diameter; when ripe, pale- 
orange color; on a very short stalk, surrounded at base 
with old, hard flower-cup. Fruit very bitter, but edible 

after frost ( Diospyros ) Persimmon 

c ) Leaves rounded or heart-shaped, 3 to 5 inches across. 

Flowers pealike, pink, appearing before the leaves. Fruit 
a dry, flat pod, 2\ to 3§ inches long; in dense clusters on 
sides of branches; seeds, hard, small, oblong, \ inch long 

(Cercis) Redbud 

3. Bruised or cut twigs and leaves with milky juice 

a) Leaves with narrow points. Twigs bearing thorns. 

Fruit, a large, orange-like, rough ball 4 to 6 inches in 
diameter ( Toxylon ) Osage Orange 

IV. Leaves simple, opposite, with toothed edges 

Leaves with large (often lobelike) teeth. Fruit in pairs, each 
part with a conspicuous, flat, very thin wing. Fruit matures in 
spring or in autumn, when it becomes dry and yellowish brown 

(Acer) Maple 


366 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


V. Leaves simple, opposite, edges neither toothed nor notched 

A. Leaves very large, heart-shaped. Flowers showy, trumpet¬ 

like, in large clusters. Fruit, a long, cylindrical pod, 6 to 14 
inches long, containing closely packed, flat, dry seeds, with 
fringed wings at each end ( Caialpa ) Catalpa 

B. Leaves rather small, oval, tapering at base and point. Flowers 

conspicuous, white (occasionally rosy), appearing with the 
expanding leaves. Fruit, a small cluster of two-seeded berries, 
turning red in autumn ( Cornus) Dogwood 

VI. Leaves compound, alternately attached to twigs 

A. Leaflets small, many, attached along two sides of a main stem. 

Fruit, a flat, beanlike, dry or fleshy pod 

1. Leaflets with small, wavy teeth. Pods flat, broad, long, 

often twisted, thin-skinned, with thick, cheesy, sweetish 
pulp about seeds. Trees with long, keen, branched thorns 

( Gleditsia ) Honey Locust 

2. Leaflets not toothed 

a) Twigs with pairs of short, keen thorns. Leaflets rounded 
at ends. Flowers showy white, in large clusters. Pods 

small, flat, thin, dry, with small seeds ( Robinia ) Black Locust 

b ) Twigs thornless. Leaflets oval, pointed. Flowers green¬ 
ish, with violet odor. Pods large, flat, thick, with jelly- 
like pulp (poisonous) around the large, black-brown 

seeds ( Gymnocladus ) Coffee Tree 

B. Leaflets large. Fruit, a hard-shelled nut, with a separable 
husk 

1. Leaflets narrow at base, becoming larger at outer end. Nut 

light-colored, in a husk which separates more or less com¬ 
pletely into four parts when ripe (. Eicoria) Hickory 

2. Leaflets broad at base, becoming narrower at outer end. 

Nut dark, rough, in a fleshy husk which is inseparable by 
any natural divisions and turns black when old. Pith of 

twigs forms numerous cross-partitions ( Juglans ) Walnut 

VII. Leaves compound, opposite on twigs 

A. Leaflets arranged along two sides of a main leafstalk, with a 
leaflet at the end 

1. Leaflets generally 3 (sometimes 5), toothed only near the 
ends. Fruit, a cluster of dry, winged seeds, arranged in 
pairs like those of maple (Acer) Box Elder 1 

1 Box elder, a true maple, differs from the others in having compound leaves. 


COMMON TREES 


367 


2. Leaflets generally more than 3 (3 to n), and either not 
toothed or with small teeth. Fruit, a duster of single- 
winged, dry, oar-shaped “seeds” ( Fraxinus ) Ash 

B. Leaflets (5 to 9) dustered at end of a main leafstem. Fruit, a 
shiny, brown nut in a thick, warty or prickly husk, which 
separates into several parts (HZsculus) Buckeye 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 

Apgar, A. C. Trees of Northern United States and Canada. New York: 
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-. Ornamental Shrubs of the United States. New York: American 

Book Co. $1.50. 

Beard, Dan. Field and Forest Handy Book. New York: Charles Scribner 
and Sons. $1.50. 

Blakeslee and Jarvis. Trees in Their Winter Condition. New York: 
The Macmillan Co. $2.00. 

Boerker, H. D. Our National Forests. New York: The Macmillan Co. 
$2.00. 

Bruncker, E. North American Forests arid Forestry. New York: G. P. 
Putnam’s Sons. $2.00. 

Clements, Rosendall, and Butters. Minnesota Trees and Shrubs. Univer¬ 
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Flagg, Wilson. A Year among the Trees. Chicago: Educational Pub¬ 
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Gifford, John. Practical Forestry for Beginners. New York: D. Appleton 
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Hough, Romeyn B. Handbook of the Trees of the Northern United States 
and Canada. Lowville, N.Y.: Published by the author. $6.00/ 
Keeler, H. L. Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them. New York: 
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-. Our Native Shrubs and How to Identify Them. New York: 

Charles Scribner and Sons. $2.00. 

Levison, J. J. Studies of Trees. New York: John Wiley & Sons. $1.60. 
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McFarland, J. H. Getting Acquainted with the Trees. New York: The 
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1 Farmers’ bulletins are issued by the United States Department of Agriculture 
Washington, D.C. 




368 OUR LIVING WORLD 

Mathews, F. S. Familiar Trees and Their Leaves. New York: Appleton 
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Moon and Brown. Elements of Forestry. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 

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Mosher, Edith R. Forest Study in the Primary Grades. Michigan Public 
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Muir, John. Our National Parks. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. $3.00. 
Parkhurst, H. E. Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of the Northeastern United 
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Pinchot, Gifford. Primer of Forestry. United States Department of 
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Pythian, J. E. Trees in Nature , Myth, and Art. Philadelphia: G. W. 
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Rankin, W.H. Manual of Tree Diseases. New York: The Macmillan Co. 
fa-75- 

Rogers, J. E. Trees Every Child Should Know. New York: Grosset & 
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-. The Tree Book. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. $4.00. 

Roth, Filbert. First Book of Forestry. Boston: Ginn & Co. $0.75. 
Sargent, Charles S. Manual of the Trees of North America. Boston: 
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Seton, Ernest Thomson. The Forester's Hand Book. New York: Double¬ 
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Stone and Fickett. Trees in Prose and Poetry. Boston: Ginn & Co. 
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Thoreau, Henry D. Succession of Forest Trees. Boston: Houghton 
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-. The Maine Woods. Houghton Mifflin Co. $1.50. 

Farmers’ Bulletins. United States Department of Agriculture, Washing¬ 
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No. 99, Three Insect Enemies of Shade Trees. 

No. 134, Tree Planting on Rural School Grounds. 

Nos. 173 and 358, Primer of Forestry. Parts I and II. 

No. 423, Forest Nurseries for Schools. 

No. 468, Forestry in Nature Study. 

No. 711, The Care and Improvement of the Woodlot. 

Bureau of Forestry Circulars: 

No. 25, Forestry and the Lumber Supply. 

No. 26, Forest Fires in the Adirondacks in 1903. 

No. 55, How to Pack and Ship Young Forest Trees. 

No. 56, Bur Oak, Quercus macrocarpa. 




COMMON TREES 


.09 


No. 57, Jack Pine, Pinus divaricata. 

No. 59, Eucalyptus. Revised. 

No. 60, Red Pine, Pinus resinosa. 

No. 61, How to Transplant Forest Trees. 

No. 62, Shagbark Hickory, Hicoria ovata. 

No. 63, Basswood, Tilia americana. 

No. 64, Black Locust, Robinia pseudacacia. 

No. 65, Norway Spruce, Picea excelsa. 

No. 66, White Elm, Ulmus americana. 

No. 67, While Pine, Pinus strobus. 

No. 68, Scotch Pine, Pinus sylvestris. 

No. 70, European Larch, Larix europae. 

No. 71, Chestnut, Castanea dentata. 

No. 72, Western Yellow Pine, Pinus ponderosa. 

No. 74, Honey Locust, Gleditsia triacanthos. 

No. 7.5, Hackberry, Celtis occidentals. 

No. 81, Forest Planting in Illinois. 

No. 82, Hardy Catalpa. 

No. 86, Boxelder, Acer negundo. Revised. 

No. 87, White Willow, Salix alba. 

No. 88, Black Walnut, Juglans nigra. 

No. 89, Tamarack, Larix laricina. 

No. 90, Osage Orange, Toxylon pomiferum. 

No. 91, Coffee Tree, Gymnocladus dioicus. Revised. 

No. 92, Green Ash, Fraxinus lanceolata. 

No. 93, Yellow Poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera. 

No. 94, Black Cherry, Prunus serotina. 

No. 95, Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum. 

No. 97, The Timber Supply of the United States. 

No. 99, Suggestions for Forest Planting on the Semi-arid Plains. 

No. 100, Suggestions for Forest Planting in the Northwestern and Lake 
States. 

No. 116, The Waning Hardwood Supply and the Appalachian Forests. 
No. 129, The Drain upon the Forests. 

No. 130, Forestry in the Public Schools. 

No. 133, Production of Veneer in 1906. 

No. 138, Suggestions to Woodlot Owners in the Ohio Valley Region. 

No. 139, A Primer of Wood Preservation. 

No. 140, What Forestry Has Done. 

No. 145, Forest Planting on the Northern Prairies. 

No. 164, Properties and Uses of Southern Pines. 


370 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


No. 165, Practical Assistance to Owners of Forest Land and to Tree 
Planters. 

No. 166, The Timber Supply of the United States. 

No. 167, The Status of Forestry in the United States. 

No. 168, Commercial Importance of the White Mountain Forests. 

No. 171, The Forests of the United States: Their Use. 

No. 207, Profession of Forestry. 

Bureau of Forestry Bulletins: 

No. 10, Timber: An Elementary Discussion of the Characteristics and 
Properties of Wood. 

No. 28, A Short Account of the Big Trees of California. 

No. 42, The Woodlot. 

No. 44, The Diminished Flow of the Rock River in Wisconsin and Illinois , 
and Its Relation to the Surrounding Forests. 

No. 59, The Maple Sugar Industry. 

No. 76, How to Grow and Plant Conifers in the Northeastern States. 

No. 153, Forest Planting in Eastern United States. 

No. 285, The Northern Hardwood Forest: Its Composition , Growth , and 
Management. 

Bureau of Entomology. The following are sample citations. Many others 
are issued: 

Circular No. 125, Insects Which Kill Forest Trees. 

Circular No. 129, Insects in Relation to Their Reduction oj Future 
Supplies of Timber. 

Reprints Yearbook, Department of Agriculture: 

1902. Some of the Principal Insect Enemies of Coniferous Forests in 
the United States. 

1903. Insect Injuries to Hardwood Forest Trees. 

1917. Notable Depredations by Forest Insects. 


CHAPTER VIII 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 

The seed. —To watch the germination of an inert seed, the 
development therefrom of the tiny plant, the growth of bursting 
bud and flower, is to cross the threshold of nature’s impenetrable 
mysteries. 

Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe of God, nothing 
seems to me more surprising than the planting of a seed in the black earth 
and the result thereof. Take a poppy seed, for instance; it lies in your 
palm, the merest atom of matter, hardly visible, a speck, a pin’s point in 
bulk, but within it is imprisoned a spirit of beauty ineffable, which will 
break its bonds and emerge from the dark ground and blossom in splendor 
so dazzling as to baffle all powers of description. The Genie in the Arabian 
tale is not half so astonishing.— Thaxter. 

Tennyson was under the spell of these mysteries that throng 
upon the heart and brain when he wrote: 

Flower in the crannied wall, 

I pluck you out of the crannies, 

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 

Little flower—but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 

I should know what God and man is. 

An attempt to “understand what you are, root and all, and 
all in all, little flower,” will at least awaken interest in some very 
commonplace things and perhaps add to our reverence and love 
for them. 

The flower show.— “The love of a flower in the heart of a 
child is the highest thing that nature-study can hope to develop.” 
That love can best be stimulated by giving the child the little 
plant to rear and care for. The flower show has been found an 
excellent device for arousing interest (Fig. 277). 

371 


372 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Each pupil should be provided with two or three seeds of a 
plant that is a rapid grower and that will, with proper care, 
blossom before the end of the term; provide him also with the 
planting directions given herewith. Follow the directions care¬ 
fully, and try to raise a fine plant. These plants should be 
brought to school at the close of the term, carefully wrapped 
up so that they will not freeze. A prize will be given to the 
pupil rearing the finest plant. 



Fig. 277. —The flower show (New York City public school) 


Directions for planting .—Procure a four- or five-inch flower¬ 
pot or a tin can or box. If you use a can, punch a few nail holes 
in the bottom. Place at the bottom a small handful of bits of 
stone, coal, or coke as large as beans, and fill to within an inch 
or two of the top with good fine earth. Water it well and let 
it stand for a day. Soak the seed overnight, then make little 
holes in the earth twice as deep as the seed is thick and put one 
seed in each. Cover the seeds loosely with earth. Cover the pot 
or box with a piece of board or glass until the first leaves are up. 

Keep the pot where it is comfortably warm, not hot. At 
night move it to a warm spot. Give it just enough water to 



SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


373 


keep the earth moist, not wet. While the pot is covered it will 
not need much water. If you give it too much the seed will rot. 
When the plants are up water every second day. 

When the leaves appear remove the cover and give the little 
plants all the sunlight you can. When the plants are an inch 
or so.high pull up all but the largest and strongest one. Push 
a piece of old plaster as big as a bean down into the earth at one 
side of the pot. Take care of your own plant. Do not ask some 
one else to do it for you. 

For all places, then, and in all seasons, 

Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings, 

Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons, 

How akin they are to human things. 

— Longfellow. 

Reports .—After the seeds have been taken home and planted 
and are being cared for by the children, frequent oral reports 
should be called for in school on the progress the seedlings are 
making. This serves to maintain interest and affords excellent 
subject-matter for language-work. If the seeds are distributed 
and planted at the opening of the winter term the plants will 
likely be in bloom by the middle of March or early in April. 
The flower show may be held when the plants are at their best. 
The prizes may be very inexpensive and still add zest to the 
project. 

It is surprising what excellent results the children achieve 
with their plants. Usually, quite contrary to expectations, the 
lower grades do better than the upper ones. Dwarf alyssum, 
candytuft, cornflower, pot marigolds, and phlox are all good 
growers, but no plant is so good for a first attempt as the dwarf 
nasturtium. It persists in growing and blooming in spite of 
accidents and neglect. 

Awakening interest—In starting this work use ten or fifteen 
minutes each day for the first week of the winter term. Ask the 
children what flowers they like best and why; in the upper 
grades this might form the subject for a written exercise. The 
first period might well be taken in learning the children’s 


374 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


preferences and pondering them; then ask what flowers or plants 
they have grown and let them talk freely about their experiences. 
You will likely have some enthusiastic little gardener in your 
room who has successfully reared flowers, these “ thoughts of 
the spirit of God.” His enthusiasm will be contagious, and when 
interest is well developed you can suggest the plan of planting 
and the flower show. Perhaps two periods more will be used in 
talking over experiences in raising flowers and in outlining the plan 
of work. Then let the teacher use the fourth period for the first 
week in showing the children just how to carry out the instruc¬ 
tions for fixing the earth in the pot and for planting the seeds. 

The results .—The outcome of this flower show should be 
more than the production of a pretty plant; it should teach the 
child to assume responsibility. It should be understood from 
the first that no plant will be entered in the final competition 
that the child himself has not raised. Parents are not to water 
or tend it; that must devolve upon the child. The work should 
give the pupil a realization of the life-process of the plant and of 
the fact that the ultimate product of growth is the fruit. Here 
are two stories written by grade pupils telling of their plants. 


When you plant a nasturtium seed you got to water it. Then in a few 
days you will see a little thing like a steme. The steme will keep getting 
bigger and bigger, then come the leaves. Then the buds come out and they 
get bigger and bigger, and then they come to flowers, and the flowers were 
all colors. When the flowers went away then what do you think came, a 
hole lot of little seeds came. 


Third Grade 
February 16, 1906 


Jessie Ward 


The Nasturtium Seed 

If you should plant a nasturtium seed the first thing you would see 
would be a little stem and the next day the leaves sprout. When this 
grows to be a big plant with leaves about as big as a dollar the buds break 
out and forms flowers. Then the flower withers and more seeds come so 
you have seeds to plant for the next year. 

Naomi Olson 

Fourth Grade 
February 16, 1906 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


375 


Fruit display.—About the time of the autumn harvest home 
festivities or in the days preceding Thanksgiving is a good time 
to introduce the study of the fruits. In the studies of the 
preceding chapter the children have traced the connection 
between the seed pod and the pistil so that in many cases they 
know that the fruit is the ripened ovary. Probably in growing 
their plants for the flower show they have watched the seed pods 
form on the nasturtium or the touch-me-not as the flowers 
disappear. The garden in the fall will furnish many sorts of 
fruits, some of which they know have developed from the flower. 

It is worth while having a fruit display in the schoolroom. 
The nucleus of the display may be gathered in the school garden, 
where many dry fruits are to be had and some succulent ones, 
and may be supplemented with those gathered in the home 
gardens, orchards, and fields. Many are to be found in the 
autumn woods. Even the weeds may be brought into requisi¬ 
tion. Such fruits as those of the mallow, milkweed, ground 
cherry, and purple stramonium are excellent additions. 

The seed container .—The pupils are to be led to realize that 
we are using the term “fruit” in its botanical rather than its 
ordinary sense; that which contains the ripened seeds is the 
fruit. That this is the ripened ovary they know; but what they 
do not know yet is that often the parts of the flowers adhere to 
the ovary and help to form the fruit, especially in the succulent 
fruits. This will be clearer after a typical fruit is studied, but 
for the present we may include in our fruit collection pumpkins, 
squash, tomatoes, and other things that contain seeds, in spite 
of the fact that the pupils have been accustomed to look on 
these as vegetables rather than fruits. In the city, where 
vegetable gardens, orchards, and grainfields are not available 
for field trips on which to gather fruits, the grocery stores serve 
as a source of many interesting and often more strange kinds of 
fruits than the country affords. 

Dry and succulent fruits— Pupils, in looking over such a 
display, are pretty sure to be struck with certain facts. They 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


376 

will learn that fruits are readily divisible into, two great groups: 
(1) those that are dry, like walnuts in their husks, acorns, corn, 
pea and bean pods; (2) those that are juicy or succulent, like 
apples, pears, peaches, grapes. Another striking fact is that 
most of the latter fruits are brightly colored; most of the former, 
dull colored. A page of water-color sketches of some of these 
fruits will help pupils to recall this fact and will add an attractive 
sheet to the notebook. The results may be impressionistic 
rather than artistic, but they will serve to emphasize the brilliant 
colors of these succulent fruits, especially if contrasted with 
sketches of the dull browns and greens of the dry fruits whose 
capsules are still attached to many of the weeds and shrubs. 
It may be worth while to have pupils list the fruits under their 
respective colors somewhat as follows: 

Red fruits: Many apples, cherries, some grapes, mulberries, 
peaches, plums, strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes. 

Yellow and orange fruits: Some apples, apricots, bananas, 
some cherries, grape fruit, lemons, oranges, pears, persimmons, 
prickly pears, pumpkins, squash. 

Blue and purple fruits: Blueberry, huckleberry, grapes, plums. 

Black and white fruits: Blackberry, grapes, scallop squash. 

Green fruits: Some apples, grapes, and all of the foregoing 
before they are ripe. 

Significance of color.—The last statement is one that focalizes 
the attention of the pupils. That all succulent fruits are green 
when unripe and become brightly colored in ripening is a suffi¬ 
ciently striking fact to demand explanation. The customary 
explanation is that when the fruit is ripe the fact is advertised 
by the brilliant color. The attention of birds or other animals 
is thus attracted and the fruit is eaten, but since in most cases 
the seeds are inedible they are thrown away, as we throw away 
the core of an apple; or they are so well protected by hard covers 
that if eaten they pass through the intestinal canal of birds or 
animals unharmed and are thus scattered broadcast, as is the 
case with strawberries, raspberries, and grapes. Until the seeds 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


377 


are mature enough to grow if planted it would simply waste the 
effort of the plant to have the fruit taken; it therefore remains 
green until mature and is inconspicuous among green foliage. 
It is, moreover, often protected by a disagreeable taste, as, for 
instance, sour grapes and puckery persimmons. 

The apple.—Undertake now the study of a single fruit. Ask 
each child to bring an apple to school. This will insure quite a 
varied collection of apples, and if each child should know or could 
find out what sort he brings the display may help acquaint the 
children with the different kinds grown in the neighborhood. 
Probably the children of the upper grades will know more of the 



Fig. 278.—The apple display 


different sorts than the teacher, and there will be a good opportu¬ 
nity to learn something of apple varieties from the pupils. Here 
is a list brought together in one city, the apples being raised in 
the immediate vicinity: Babit, Baldwin, Bellflower, Ben Davis, 
Delicious, Gano, Greening, Jonathan, King, Northern Spy, Pough¬ 
keepsie, Rambo, Russet, Snow, Spitzenburg, Tolman Sweet, Willow 
Twig, Winesap, Wolf River, York Imperial. If neither children 
nor teacher can name all varieties with certainty, likely some 
farmer or grocer will be found who will come to school and name 
them. He will be willing to tell some of the good points of each 
apple, how it cooks and keeps, and he may tell something of the 
tree’s resistance to disease and insect pests, hardihood, and 
bearing qualities (Fig. 278). 





378 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The protective skin.—li some of the apples brought in begin 
to spoil it will be noted that the decay begins at points where the 
skin is slightly broken. This naturally leads to the question as 
to why decay does not start on the skin itself. Bring out, by 
appropriate questions that stimulate observation, the fact that 
the apple skin is tough, close-grained, and full of wax. When 
rubbed an apple takes a high polish, as does a waxed floor or 
piece of furniture. Peel the skin from a spot on the apple and 
notice that in a very few minutes the exposed pulp begins to 
change color. A piece of apple without skin soon dries, so that 
the waxy apple skin is seen to prevent evaporation and protect 



Fig. 279.—Sprayed and unsprayed apples 


the pulp from the weather and from the inroads of the germs 
that cause decay (Fig. 279). 

Form and color .—Note the shape and color of the apple. 
Have colored sketches made of some of the commoner varieties 
and let these be properly named. Make sure that the shapes 
of the apples are correct,, for any variety is known by its shape 
as well as its color, markings, and flavor. In studying the apples 
preparatory to drawing them some child will discover that they 
are not uniformly colored, being often dark about the stem end 
and light at the opposite end and the children will readily see 
that this difference is due to the fact that the sunlight strikes 
one end more than the other. They will recall that the human 
skin has its color intensified by exposure to the sunlight. The 




SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


379 


blueprints of flowers which can be made in connection with the 
work on weeds will give them another instance in which light 
affects color changes. Certain spots on apples which are very 
much lighter than the general color are usually due to the fact 
that the apples have grown in clusters and have been protected 
where they were in contact. This character is often a means of 
telling varieties that do cluster in growth from others much like 
them that hang singly on the tree. 

Flower to fruit .—Examine both the stem end and the opposite 
end closely. Probably the child will not know what the five 
pointed scales at one end of the apple are, and unless the children 
have already observed the growth of the apple on the tree it will 
be wise to let this point go until spring. Then watch the apples 
form, noting that the parts of the apple flower are in fives, that 
there are five petals, five sepals, ten stamens, and the ovary with 
five cells in which the ovules lie. The parts of the flower fall or 
wither, except the pistil and the calyx, and the former is inclosed 
by the latter. The calyx adheres to the surface of the ovary, 
swells up, and becomes the succulent part of the apple, while 
the pistil makes up the core. If cultivated apples are not 
available for observation, wild crab apples, thorn apples, or the 
fruit of the mountain ash may be watched as it forms. Some of 
these latter trees are usually available in city parks. 

The pulp.—Have the pupils cut their apples open. Let one 
of each two pupils tut his apple lengthwise from stem to tip 
and the other cut his open by slicing through the equator of the 
apple. Then let them exchange halves so that each pupil will 
have a half from an apple cut in each way. Let the pupils 
sketch these. Note that at the center there are five cavities 
containing seeds. These are walled with thin but tenacious 
plates that are the disagreeable elements of the core. Some 
pupil will be sure to see the ten dots in the pulp in the cross- 
section, and may be told to look on the longitudinal section for 
an explanation of these. There will be seen fibrous strands 
running from the stem through the pulp to the scales at tbf 


380 OUR LIVING WORLD 

apple’s tip. These scales we know, from watching the fruit form, 
are the tips of the sepals, and the fibrous strands are the fibro- 
vascular bundles of the sepals, through which much of the 



Fig. 280.—Bean seedlings: a, soaked seed, one cotyledon removed; b, young 
seedling, one cotyledon removed; c, older seedling. 


A simple germinator.—As the child himself is a bundle of 
activities he is interested in seedlings largely because they are 
active, growing things. At the beginning of our study of seeds 
and seedlings, therefore, it will be wise to devote considerable 






SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


381 


time to just watching them grow (Fig. 280). Cut two or three 
strips of blotting paper and one of black calico nearly as wide as 
a tumbler is deep and long enough to go round the tumbler. 
Moisten them and put them in the tumbler, the cloth strip next 
to the glass and the two or three thicknesses of blotting paper 
all around inside of the cloth. Insert two of each of the following 
seeds between the glass and the cloth two inches below the top 
of the tumbler: pea, bean, sunflower, nasturtium, castor bean, 
morning-glory, pumpkin, oat, corn. Let each pupil prepare such 



Fig. 281—Tumbler germinator: just planted at left, well started at right 


a growing device. Keep some water in the bottom of the 
tumbler. Cover the tumbler with a piece of cardboard or tin 
while the seeds are germinating (Fig. 281). The children of the 
lower grades need try only a few seeds. As the seeds germinate 
all steps in the process are readily seen, even the delicate roots 
showing well against the black background. In the upper 
grades let the pupils keep written records of all that they observe. 

Let each child be supplied with a small oox or pan, filled 
two-thirds full of fine sawdust or sand. In some schools granite- 
ware pans are supplied to pupils for this work. They are sani¬ 
tary and do not stain desk tops. In this pan let the children 





]&2 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


plant beans, peas, corn, oats, pumpkin, and pine seeds. Put one 
or two of each kind of seed below the surface and leave as many 
of each lying on the top of the sawdust or sand. Dampen the 
sawdust with water and keep it moist but not wet. Cover the 
box or pan with glass or tin and watch, very closely, all that 
happens. Let the upper-grade pupils keep careful record of all 
that is observed, with sketches to illustrate the various stages. 

How the seedling gets into the ground—It is quite a problem 
that confronts the little plant—to get out of its seed coat, send 



Fig. 282.—Root hairs of the radish 


roots into the soil, expand leaves in the air above, and become so 
established that it may live and prosper. Try this experiment: 
Fill a pot or pint jar half full of moist sand and sprinkle some 
radish seed on this sand. Cover the pot or jar and watch the 
seeds as they grow. Their roots will show the delicate root hairs 
(Fig. 282) that help hold the plant in the soil and that absorb 
the moisture with its contained nutrition. Lift one of the radish 
seedlings that is growing on the sand. See how the soil particles 
are held by the plant. When you pull up a plant by the roots, 
you do not see these delicate root hairs because they pull off so 



SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


383 


easily. All plants depend on these minute hairs on their roots 
for their water supply; for this reason a transplanted plant is 
likely to wilt, since these essential root hairs are destroyed unless 
great care is taken. Like the leaves they are shed each fall and 
renewed each spring in annuals or in deciduous plants. The best 
time to transplant trees is therefore late fall or very early spring 
—though the evergreens transplant best in midsummer, when 
their leaves and root hairs are renewed. 

A seed race.—Let us get ready for a pea and bean race. 
Oh, no! It is not like a potato race. The children are not to do 
the running, but are the passive participants in the fun, 
for the seeds will do the running this time. No, I do not 
think betting on the race will be in order, but I would like 
to have you guess which will win and then be able to tell 
me why you think so. First, we shall prepare the contestants. 
Soak a few perfect peas and beans overnight. Stretch a piece 
of thin cheesecloth or bobbinet tightly over the mouth of a small 
tumbler and tie it in place with string. Lay the peas and beans 
on this and then fill the glass with water so that the water just 
touches the seeds. Then cover the glass with a larger tumbler or 
a glass fruit jar. This is another simple yet impressive way of 
germinating seeds. If preferred the racers may be started in 
the sawdust pans. 

Fix three tumblers like the small one on page 381 with a cloth 
over the mouth of each. Fill one nearly full of water in which has 
been dissolved half as much potassium sulphate as you can pile 
on a dime. Fill another with water in which has been dissolved 
a like amount of sodium nitrate. In the third tumbler put half 
as much of each of the above and a bit of iron sulphate as big as 
the head of a pin. These chemicals may be had of the druggist. 
Fill a fourth tumbler with good rich soil. When the beans and 
peas are well sprouted so that the root is an inch or two long make 
two little holes in the cheesecloth near the edge, on opposite 
sides of each tumbler. Put the root of a pea through one hole 
and the root of a bean through the other so that they will dip 


3^4 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


into the solutions. Plant a couple of the seedlings on opposite 
sides of the tumbler containing the earth and keep, this moistened 
with water. Set them all together where they will have the 
same light and heat. Beside each little plant tie a small upright 
stick a'foot long to the tumbler. Let the children mark off 
six-inch scales, divided into eighths of an inch, on some strips of 
stiff paper and fasten one of these to each stick so that the begin¬ 
ning of the scale will be just back of the tip of the plant. We are 
then ready to watch the race. Slow ? Oh, yes, but so was that 
race in which the tortoise took part. There may be surprises in 
this race, too. 

What the race means —This race will be meaningless to the 
lower grades, but the grades above the fourth will profit by it, 
the older pupils seeing more significance in it than the younger 
ones. Thus fifth-grade pupils will probably realize only that you 
can put things into water that will make plants grow rapidly. 
But eighth-grade pupils should readily infer that the essential 
things in a fertilizer are compounds of a few elements, some of 
which we have introduced into the tumblers. These are potassium 
calcium, magnesium, iron, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulphur. 
These they should know. They should be able from the experi¬ 
ment to decide which are the more important (Fig. 283). 

Seed growth.—Review the records the pupils have been 
making of the growth of seeds in tumblers and in pans of sand 
or sawdust. Which of these seeds first showed any sign of 
growing ? What first showed in the beans that were laid on the 
top of the soil? What part of the bean seed does this little, 
sharp, growing point come from ? What became of it ? After 
it had succeeded in getting down into the soil what became of the. 
rest of the seed ? 

Parts of a baby bean .—Have the large bean plants lost the 
coverings of the seeds entirely? Point out the cotyledons. 
Watch to see what becomes of them. If some of the bean seed¬ 
lings in your growing-pan are just splitting open, you can peek 
in between the cotyledons and see that there is a little bud from 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


385 


which the leaves grow. This bud is the plumule. In the course 
of two weeks let drawings be made of (1) the bean seed just 
starting, (2) the seedling before the plumule appears, (3) an old 
seedling showing cotyledons and the early foliage leaves. Make 
similar drawings^of several stages of the growing pea, castor-oil 
bean, corn, and oat (see Fig. 280). 

How much seeds swell .—You will realize, by this time, that 
a seed is a little plant imprisoned within hard walls. Sometimes 
seeds are very hard and strong. Take a dry lima bean and lay 
it on a piece of paper; trace its exact outline with a pencil, then 



123 45 

Fig. 283—Growing plants in pots to show effects of soil elements: 5 contains 
sand and iron sulphate; 4, calcium sulphate; 3, potassium sulphate; 2, sodium 
nitrate; 1, all combined. 


put it into water and let it soak overnight. Take it out, dry 
it off, and place it on the paper again, beside the first drawing, 
and trace its outline. How much larger has it become ? Is its 
seed coat torn ? You can find the little hole in the seed coat 
through which water gets in if you wipe dry the surface of the 
soaked seed and then squeeze it a little to see at what point 
water is oozing out. 

Select twenty good-sized lima beans and measure their 
volume in the same way that Archimedes found out the volume 
of the king’s crown. Soak the seeds in a measured volume of 
water for twenty-four hours \ then pour off the water and measure 






386 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


it. How much water have they absorbed ? Again measure 
the volume of the swollen seeds. How much have they increased 
in volume? If seeds were planted in the ground, would this 
swelling be of any advantage to the plant in its effort to get out 
of the ground ? 

The expansive force of swelling seeds. —To show that the 
swelling seed exerts strong pressure, fill a narrow-mouthed bottle 
with dry peas. Then put it under water in a pan and let it 
remain for several hours. What happens ? Of what use is this 
expansive power to the germinating seed ? Let the upper-grade 
pupils try to devise an experiment that will measure this force 
more exactly. 

The tiny root— At what point does the growing root break 
out of the seed coat ? To determine this, watch beans that are 
germinating on the surface, like those we planted on the soil in 
the covered pot. Probably most pupils will have a record of 
this for many of the seeds that are studied. How is the tip of 
the growing root related to the little hole, the micropyle, through 
which the water is absorbed ? What is the shape of this growing 
tip ? Is this a good shape for forcing the way through the tough 
seed coat ? 

How the pumpin gets into the ground. —You have been 
watching a number of seeds that were simply laid on the moist 
soil. Many seeds, out of doors, find themselves thus scattered 
upon the surface and the little seedlings must get into the earth. 
How do the pumpkin seeds force their sharp radicles into the 
sand ? It takes an appreciable pressure to force a pencil point 
into soft soil. How does the seed exert this pressure on the 
growing root tip. The pumpkin seeds will answer this question 
in part and the radish seeds will show you how light seeds 
accomplish the task. In the former one end of the seed is raised 
off the surface of the soil by the growing root until the weight 
of the seed suffices to push the root tip into the soil. In light 
seeds the root must lay hold of many soil particles by means of 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 387 

the root hairs until it has a firm enough grip to hold while the 
tip grows down into the soil. 

How sprouts break through the soil .—Many seeds are buried 
by the shifting dirt which is blown about by the winds or by the 
mud washed over them in spring storms. Then the problem 
before the seed is not alone how to force its root into the hard soil, 
but also how to get its leaves up into the air and light. Look at 
your sketches of the corn plant just sprouting and of the castor- 
oil bean in its early stages. How is the corn sprout adapted to 
get up through the soil ? Does a castor-oil or a lima-bean stem 
shove its cotyledons up or pull them up out of the ground ? Can 
you devise a means of measuring the upthrust of a corn plant 
just breaking through the soil ? 

Can a seedling take its coat off ?—We have seen how the 
little root breaks through the seed coats and penetrates the soil, 
how the stem pushes its way out of the earth in seeds that are 
buried. Let us observe some devices that the seedlings have for 
getting rid of the adhering seed coats. In some cases the seed 
coats are left below ground and the cotyledons are dragged out 
of them while they are held by the surrounding soil. What 
seedlings that we have watched remove the seed coats in this 
way ? Other seeds have to adopt special devices for forcing off 
the persistent seed coats. Plant sunflower and squash seeds on 
the surface of the soil in your box after they have been soaked 
overnight. Keep the box covered with glass or a board. Watch 
them as they germinate and see if you can detect their devices 
for ridding themselves of their seed coats. Put your hands 
together, palm to palm. Have someone slip a rubber band 
about both hands. Now try to get it off without taking hold of 
it. Perhaps this will help you to appreciate the sunflower’s 
method. The peg that the squash develops needs only be seen 
to be understood. 

In the heart of a seed 
Buried deep, so deep, 

A dear little plant 
Lay fast asleep. 


3 88 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


“Wake,” said the sunshine, 

“And creep to the light.” 

“Wake,” said the voice 
Of the raindrops bright. 

The little plant heard, 

And it rose to see 
What the wonderful 
Outside world might be. 1 

Now that we have grown familiar with the plants 5 
appearances as they rise “to see what the wonderful outside 
world might be,” let us also peep at them before they wake up, 
while they are still fast asleep in their cradles. 

Seed structure.—Put some lima beans, or any large beans, to 
soak overnight. Let each pupil have several at the nature- 
study period. On the concave side of the seed notice the scar 
left by detaching the bean from its stalk in the pod; this scar is 
named the hilum. What is the relation of the micropyle to the 
hilum ? With a knife or pin point cut the seed coat along the 
convex edge and remove it, noting, as this is done, where the seed 
coat adheres to the inner portions. Is this point marked on the 
outside in any way ? Cut off one cotyledon close to its attach¬ 
ment to the rudimentary stem. Examine the plumule closely. 
Of what does it consist ? Let the pupils draw this embryo, 
cotyledon, plumule, and hypocotyl. 

Food for growth .—Obtain a little tincture of iodine or a 
solution of chloriodide of zinc. Put a pinch of starch in a cup; 
add a tablespoonful of water and stir it, then drop in a drop or 
two of the iodine solution. Iodine always stains starch blue, and 
this is quite a sure test for starch. If a drop of the iodine is 
put on the freshly broken surface of a bean cotyledon the blue 
color indicates the presence of starch. If the iodine is too strong 
the color is black instead of blue and the solution should be 
diluted. Perhaps you have been surprised in watching you? 

1 From the Plant Baby and Its Friends, by Kate L. Brown. 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


3 8 9 


seedlings grow to note how rapidly they shoot up. They could 
not do this if it were not for the food materials stored within the 
seed by the parent plant for its baby. In the bean this food is 
stored in the cotyledons. 

An experiment with the cotyledons .—Plant several beans 
in a pot; then when the young plants have appeared and the 
cotyledons are expanding cut one cotyledon off of each of two 
plants, cut both off of two plants, and leave both on two plants. 
Which plants grow fastest ? 

We eat beans and peas because the foods the plants stored up 
for their babes in the seeds serve us quite as well. What other 
seeds do we eat, either whole or ground? Can you think of 
some animals that live largely on seeds ? Starch is not the only 
food material furnished to the little plant. Break in half the 
kernel of a Brazil nut, then fasten it on a sharp stick, broken end 
up, and light the broken end with a match. It burns readily, 
for the seed contains much oil. Crush the other half on a piece 
of white paper and note if it makes a grease spot. Crush a 
castor-oil bean in the same manner and note what squeezes out 
of it. What other oils are obtained from seeds? If you burn 
peas or beans you note the same odor that is characteristic of 
burning meat, for both contain protein, the nutritive substance 
that makes up so large a part of meat. 

Structure of other seeds .—Examine the pea, after soaking, 
and compare with the bean. Which has the heavier cotyledons 
in proportion to the size of the whole seed ? Which seed leaves 
its cotyledons below ground when it germinates ? Do the bean 
cotyledons turn green when the seedling is growing ? Are the 
sunflower cotyledons thickened? Do they appear like leaves? 
Do the castor-oil cotyledons on germinated seeds look like 
leaves ? Remove the tough outer coat of a castor-oil bean or 
morning-glory seed and cut across the kernel, thus disclosing 
a flattened cavity bounded on each side by a thin white line. 
Cut about the edge of a kernel so as to split it in the plane of 
this cavity. At one end will be seen the rudimentary stem 


390 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


(hypocotyl) and the plumule. The veins on the thin structures 
that line the cavity will show them to be leaves and a com¬ 
parison with the germinating seeds will prove them the coty¬ 
ledons. You will see that in the castor-oil bean the nutritive 
material is stored around the embryo instead of in its cotyledons. 

Corn .—Study corn that has been put to soak in warm water 
overnight. The embryo is found on one flat face. Pare away 
this face with a sharp knife, removing the seed coats. The 
embryo is surrounded here by food material (endosperm). 
Test it for starch. Compare your drawings of the germinating 
corn with the seed and you will determine readily which is the 
plumule and which the radicle. In the growth of the corn did 
the leaves appear singly or in pairs, like the bean ? The corn is 
a type of the monocotyledonous seeds. The cotyledon is the 
organ with the oval outline seen in the kernel that we have 
prepared. It remains in the seed in this case to absorb the food 
material for the growing plant. 

Pine seed .—Remove the seed coats from a sugar-pine seed. 
Carefully split the kernel longitudinally. Does the embryo 
contain the food material or is it surrounded by the endosperm ? 
The seedlings of pine have several cotyledons, as you may see in 
those planted several weeks ago that are now probably germi¬ 
nating. These several cotyledons are readily seen in the embryo. 

In this study of the seeds let constant reference be made to 
the seedlings already studied, sc that the structures seen in the 
seeds may be interpreted in terms of the larger and plainer 
structure of the seedlings. Let teachers select from the outline 
above what is best suited to their grades. The lower grades 
would best emphasize the protection and food furnished for the 
baby plants. Intermediate grades will add the careful study 
of two or three seeds: bean, castor-oil seed, corn. The higher 
grades may well make a comparative study in detail with draw¬ 
ings to show the parts and their arrangement. 

Plant activity.—We spend much time while studying human 
physiology in observing the normal behavior of a typical animal 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


39 1 


but ignore almost totally in school the normal activity of the 
plant. Yet the majority of pupils, in the rural school districts 
at least, are very dependent for their happiness and livelihood 
upon a knowledge of the fundamental life-processes in the plant. 
The plant lends itself so easily to experimentation, even in 
unskilled hands, that a child may readily be led to comprehend a 
few basal laws of plant growth that will make clear the purpose 
of a multitude of agricultural processes. 

Boys and girls as producers.—We have long realized that 
“ experience is the best teacher.” There is no reason why the 
experiences that confront the boy or girl just out of school may 
not become familiar while the pupil is in school. The problem 
of production is the first one to be settled by every individual 
as he takes his place in the community. Until he can produce 
enough to be self-supporting he is a hindrance and not a help. 
To increase production is one of the great tasks of the race. 
Increased production, other things being equal, means lessened 
prices on commodities and more of the comforts of .life for all. 
That the boy and girl of school age can attack these problems 
successfully is evident from the recent success of the corn-club 
movement, the tomato clubs, and the pig clubs. 

Pig clubs .—It was a ten-year-old schoolboy, Corson Sullivan, 
of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, who won the state sweep- 
stakes and four other prizes with his pig. Alice McCoy, thirteen 
years old, of Blanchard, Caddo Parish, in the same state, took 
the grand championship prize with an eleven-months-old Berk¬ 
shire weighing 500 pounds. Orange McGee, of Goldonna, 
Louisiana, was the pioneer in boys’ pig-club work. He showed a 
pig at the state fair in 1910 that weighed 485 pounds, reared at a 
cost of 3.2 cents per pound. Evans Jackson, the boy champion 
of Georgia for 1917, raised his at a cost of 3 .4 cents per pound. 
The winner of the Texas baby beef championship was Howard 
Hale, of Midland, who was nine years old. There were 744 boys 
and girls in these baby-beef clubs who averaged $63.74 per 
creature at marketing. The aim of the pig boys is to banish the 


392 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


scrub razorback by substituting the thoroughbred and to 
“market the corn on four legs instead of on four wheels.” The 
baby-beef clubs aim to sell grown cattle instead of calves. 

Canning clubs .—The girls have taken the lead in the work 
of the tomato clubs or canning clubs (Figs. 284 and 285), 
although there are many boy members of these too. Massachu¬ 
setts alone has over 50,000 boys and girls in these clubs who are 



Fig. 284. —Colored girl canning tomatoes (photograph from Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D.C.). 


utilizing back yards, vacant lots, and spare patches of farm lands 
for raising their vegetables and fruits to can. In 1914, 102 girls 
in Hamilton County, Tennessee, raised 121,822 pounds of 
tomatoes, each cultivating one-tenth acre; 33 girls in Bennett 
County, South Carolina, earned a profit of $3,327.68. This 
takes into account rent of land, cost of fertilizer, cultivation, 
cans, labels, and cost of preserving. Helen Durham, ten years 
old, still holds the title for variety of canned goods, having put 










SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


393 



up 99 different sorts of fruits, vegetables, and meats in a single 
season. 

Corn clubs .—All of this movement to interest and instruct 
the boys and girls in really important economic, educative 
projects had its inception in the starting of corn clubs. The 
pioneer champion is Jerry Moore, who in 1910 made a record of 


F IG . 285.—Home canning club member showing how she uses a common wash 
boiler for a canning outfit by simply providing a false bottom or blanching crate 
and using a cover cloth to make the cover tight so as to conserve heat (photograph 
from Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.). 

two hundred twenty-eight and a fraction bushels of corn on an 
acre of ground in South Carolina, when the average corn crop 
of his state was only thirteen bushels to the acre. Since then 
thousands of boys and girls have joined the clubs. Over a 
hundred boys in Georgia in i 9 I 4 did better than a hundred 
bushels of corn to the acre. The boy champion for the year 
1913, Walter Lee Dunson, was of the same state; he beat Jerry 








394 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Moore’s record with a production of 232.7 bushels on his acre, 
raised at a cost of 20 cents per bushel. This record remains un¬ 
beaten by any boy. The average yield in the state that year 
was 15.5 bushels. The average yield per acre in the United 
States for the year 1918 was only 20.4 bushels per acre. What 
possibilities the work of these boys reveals! 

Rule o’ thumb against science.—These achievements have 
been possible because state and county supervisors working 
in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture experts have 
taught these boys and girls how to go about the work scien¬ 
tifically, applying to their problems a knowledge of the simple 
principles that underlie animal and plant activity and growth, 
instead of going about the work by the old rule-o’-thumb 
methods so long in vogue and so relatively unsuccessful. The 
successful farmer today must be scientific, meeting new situa¬ 
tions with intelligence. The average farmer still does as did his 
father and grandfather before him, planting, cultivating, harvest¬ 
ing in a particular manner and at stated times, not because he 
understands why but because it is customary. Let an unusual 
situation arise, a year of sustained drought or of unusual rains, 
and he stands by helplessly and watches his crop go to ruin, 
unless some expert is sent out to tell him what to do. Even 
the back-yard gardener can make his little kitchen garden pay 
many fold better if he knows how. This knowing how is largely 
a matter of understanding the simple life-activities of the plant 
and certain very essential yet wholly elementary principles of 
soil structure and reaction. It seems eminently desirable that 
every child in the upper grades should understand these things 
reasonably well. The experiments already outlined and those 
still to be presented have been tried repeatedly with grade pupils 
and are within their comprehension. Some may be presented 
in the lower grades; many only in the upper. 

Water rises in plant stem.—To show that water passes up 
the stem of a plant and out of its leaves, cut from a maple, oak, 
or poplar tree a spray of leaves with a stem several inches long, 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


395 


or use a growing bean plant with several leaves, or a corn plant. 
Stick it immediately into a long-necked bottle or flask that is 
nearly full of water. Cut the cork of the bottle in half and cut 
out a groove in each half so that when the halves are put together 
a hole will be formed in the cork through which the stem may be 
passed. This should reach well down in the bottle. If the stem 
does not fit closely into the hole in the cork fill up the chinks 
with gum so that no air will be admitted. Mark the height of 
the water in the neck of the bottle by a strip of paper pasted on 
the outside and put the date on the strip. Set up a similar 
experiment with a second plant of the same sort, only pick off 
most of the leaves. Let the two bottles stand side by side for 
several days. The water disappears from both bottles but most 
rapidly from the one with the plant having most leaf surface. 

Water passes from leaves.—Cover the bottle and twig 
bearing many leaves with a clean two-quart fruit jar. The 
water escaping from the plant will form a mist on the glass, 
showing that the water is not only passing into the plant but 
that it is also coming out of it into the surrounding air. Measure 
the amount of water that evaporated from the bottle in the 
several days that the experiment stood. Let us suppose it is 
a fluid ounce. Pick the leaves from the plant and spread them 
on the table fitting them together so as to cover an area that can 
be measured. Suppose the leaves cover a space 4 by 10 inches. 
Then forty inches of leaf area has given off one ounce of water in, 
we will say, five days. 

Transpiration of a tree .—Count the number of leaves on a 
small twig of some good-sized tree; then count the number of 
such twigs on an average small branch, the number of such 
branches on a big branch, and finally note the number of big 
branches on the entire tree. By multiplying these several 
numbers a rough estimate can be made of the number of leaves 
on the tree. A large white oak was estimated to bear 750,000 
leaves. Supposing that the whole tree gives off water at the rate 
we have obtained for the one spray, how much will a good-sized 


396 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


tree give off in a day’s time ? There are sixteen fluid ounces to 
the pint and a pint of water weighs about a pound. 

The breathing pores of a leaf .—When the skin of the leaf is 
examined under a microscope, the cells of the epidermis will be 
seen, containing little or no green coloring matter. At frequent 
intervals among these are the stomata, which are openings 
through the epidermis leading into the interior of the leaf. 
Each opening is guarded by two cells, well supplied with chloro¬ 
phyll. If a microscope is not available Fig. 286 will serve to 
show what the underside of the leaf looks like. In leaves that 

stand upright like grass leaves these 
breathing pores are about equally 
distributed on the under and upper 
surfaces. On leaves like water-lily 
pads that have the under surface 
submerged in water they are on the 
upper side. 

Water escapes by stomata .—To 
show that the water passing out 
of the leaves goes through the 
stomata, smear the underside of a 
leaf of a geranium, nasturtium, or 
Fig. 286. —Breathing pores convenient plant with vase- 

(stomata) in epidermis of leaf. ,. _ . r r 

line. Cover the upper surface of 
another leaf of the same plant with vaseline. The former leaf 
will die quite promptly, its ‘mouths being all covered up. This 
is due in part to checking the passage of the moisture, but due 
more to the cessation of respiration, which will be clearer when 
we have studied the experiments on breathing given below. 

Plants take up solids dissolved in the water.—Cut off one 
of the bean plants close to the ground and put it quickly into a 
bottle of water to which has been added a tablespoonful of red 
ink. If after a few hours you look at the leaves and stem you 
will see that they are tinged with red. The stem is evidently 
carrying up to the leaves water and the solids dissolved in it. 




SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS' 


397 


If you now cut across the stem of the plant that was in the ink 
and look at the cut end it will be evident that the material is 
being carried largely by the fibrovascular bundles. 

Conditions of growth.—To show that plants must have 
certain favorable conditions of moisture and temperature if they 
are to grow well, try the following experiments: 

Put a layer of sand or sawdust, about an inch deep, in the 
bottom of each of three pint fruit jars. Wet the sand in one jar 
sopping wet, in another dampen it moderately, and in the third 
leave it nearly dry. Press into the sand in each jar two or three 
seeds of beans, of oats, and of corn that have been soaked 
overnight. Put the covers on the jars and let them stand in a 
warm place to germinate. It will be quite evident that seeds 
can have too much water and that some seeds require more 
moisture to germinate than do others. Can growth occur when 
little or no moisture is present? Do some seeds grow better 
than others when there is an excess of moisture ? What harm 
does a spell of wet weather do just after planting ? Why does 
the farmer have to drain swamp land before he plants it ? 

Again, prepare three jars with sand in the bottom of each. 
Moisten the sand sufficiently to make the seeds grow well. 
Plant soaked seeds of oats and squash in each. Cover the jars 
and place one where it is very warm, as over a furnace or near 
a steam radiator, another where it will have ordinary room 
temperature, about 65°, and the third where it will be quite cold, 
as in a refrigerator. At the end of several days compare the 
growth in the several jars. What do the results prove ? Why 
can oats be planted earlier than squash ? 

The plant breathes.—To show that a growing plant breathes, 
take two clean pint fruit jars and put in each a layer of crumpled 
moist filter paper or blotting paper. Sprinkle on this a level 
teaspoonful of small seeds, like those of phlox, radish, or clover. 
Add more- paper and more seed, layer by layer, until several 
spoonfuls of the seed have been used. Screw on the covers and 
set aside until the seeds have germinated well. 


39 ^ 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Put a lump of unslaked lime into a tumbler of water and 
let it stand several hours, stirring occasionally. Finally let all 
the sediment settle and pour off the clear fluid. This is lime- 
water, which may be bought of the druggist ready-made if you 
prefer. Pour a little of this limewater into a clear tumbler and 
blow into it with a piece of tubing, letting the tube dip below the 
surface of the limewater. A serviceable tube can be made by 
wrapping a sheet of paper about a long pencil and then slipping 
out the pencil. The lime water becomes milky because of the 
carbon-dioxide gas given off from the lungs, and this is a test for 
the gas. Remove the cover from one of the pint jars just 
enough to pour in a half-cup of clear limewater. Shake it up 
quickly and pour it off into a glass. Much will be absorbed by 
the blotting paper, but what does come out is very milky. This 
shows readily that a growing plant gives off carbon dioxide in 
breathing, as we do. 

Oxygen of air .—Help the child to realize from his experience 
that there is a substance in the air (we call it oxygen) with¬ 
out which things ordinarily do not burn. When we want more 
heat in the stove or furnace we open the draft so that the air can 
have more ready access to the wood or coal, and then it burns 
faster. 

Carbon dioxide formed as candle burns .—Float a small candle 
or piece of crumpled paper on a cork in a basin of water. 
Light it and when it is burning well turn a tumbler or pint fruit 
jar upside down over it, holding the mouth of the jar under 
water. The candle or paper burns a while and then goes out 
because it has used up all the oxygen. You will see, too, that 
the water has risen in the tumbler to occupy the space taken up 
previously by the oxygen. This is about one-fifth of the volume 
of the tumbler, which makes clear that about one-fifth of the air 
is oxygen. 

Pull the cork and candle out from under the tumbler without 
taking the latter out of the water. Put a square of stiff paper 
over the mouth of the tumbler and lift it out of the water. Let 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


399 


what water is inside run out quickly. Pour in some clear lime- 
water and shake it up while the paper cover is still on. The lime- 
water is cloudy, showing the presence of carbon dioxide. 

There is carbon in the candle and the paper. If paper was 
used, some of it is left as partly burned or charred paper (char¬ 
coal). When the carbon and oxygen come together and are hot 
enough they combine to form the new substance, carbon dioxide, 
and they produce more heat as they unite. Thus heat is 
produced in our locomotives by burning coal or oil or wood, and 
this heat is changed to other sorts of energy, like steam pressure, 
and finally to mechanical motion, so that the wheels go round 
and the engine does work, such as pulling our cars. 

Oxidation for energy .—A growing plant does work. The little 
leaves and the root confined in the seed burst the seed coats, 
grow up into the light, or force a way down into the soil. As 
work power must be developed in order to do this some of the 
substances in the seed are burned up to furnish this energy, just 
as we take oxygen into our lungs and blood and burn up inside 
in order to develop work power. The burned-up tissue has to 
be replaced by the food that we eat, digest, and assimilate into 
living substances. 

Plants need oxygen .—That growing plants cannot thrive with¬ 
out oxygen is readily shown as follows: 

Soak a pint of oats for twenty-four hours. In the bottom of 
each of three pint fruit jars place an inch-deep layer of moist sand. 
Sprinkle a dozen or so of the oats on the sand in one jar, put a 
handful of them into the second jar, and fill the third jar two- 
thirds full of them. Screw on the covers tightly and place all 
three jars where the temperature will be about 6o° F. Watch 
the seeds daily to see which grow best. The conditions in the 
jars are alike except that the amount of air present for each seed 
to use is variable. State your conclusion after watching the 
results of the experiment. Plant a dozen soaked oats in a pot 
of clay soil and pack the clay down well over them. In the 
same way plant a dozen more oats in a pot of loose leaf mold. 


400 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Keep both at the same temperature and keep the soils moist. 
In which kind of soil do the seeds germinate best and why ? 

Photosynthesis.—To show that a plant in sunlight manu¬ 
factures food substances, cut two thin slices from a cork or cut 
two half-inch squares of black cardboard. With fine wire or 
pins fasten these, opposite each other, on the upper and under 
sides of a vigorous leaf on a nasturtium plant or other convenient 
plant. Then put the plant in the bright sunlight for a day or two. 
The pieces of cork or cardboard will exclude the light from the 
part of the leaf between them. Pick off the leaf, remove the 
cork or cardboard, and put the leaf into a cup or tumbler. 
Cover the leaf with alcohol and cover the cup with something 
so that the alcohol will not evaporate. The alcohol will remove 
the green color of the leaf in a few hours or in a shorter time if the 
alcohol is warm. When the leaf is white or nearly so wash it in 
water; then cover it with water in the cup and add thirty drops 
of iodine. This is the starch test already used to show starch in 
seeds. If the leaf does not color rapidly add more iodine. At 
the end of an hour the leaf should be stained blue or blue black, 
except the area covered by the cardboard. This will be 
uncolored or slightly colored. The experiment may be done on 
the leaf of some plant that has been growing out of doors under 
a board or stone. Use two leaves of the same plant, one that 
has been covered and one that has been in the light. Thus we 
see that the green leaf of a plant makes starch, and moreover that 
this can only be done in the sunlight. 

That plants manufacture foods is commonplace knowledge. 
We get starch, sugar, chocolate,'and other foods from plants; 
we use the stored-up foods in our grains, fruits, and vegetables. 
The plant can make its food substance out of simple things that 
it gets from the air and soil. These substances are chiefly 
carbon dioxide absorbed from the air, water, and substances in 
solution taken from the soil. 

Plant uses carbon dioxide .—'That the plant uses carbon 
dioxide is readily shown. The pupil must remember that there 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


401 


are two processes going on in the leaf: (1) respiration, when 
oxygen is absorbed and carbon dioxide is given off, and (2) food 
manufacture. The two must not be confused. 

Fill a deep jar or basin full of water. Take a large, flat cork 
that will slip into the mouth of the two-quart jar and fasten a 
String to one flat side. Float the cork with this side down in 
the water. Set a short piece of candle on the cork and light it. 
Place the jar, mouth down, over the candle and cork and lower 
it until its mouth is under water. Let the candle burn as long 
as it will. What gas has disappeared from the jar and what has 
taken its place? Support the two-quart jar on tumblers or 
pieces of brick. Pull out the cork and candle. Cut a hole in 
the center of the cork, slip in a sprig of a plant like geranium or 
nasturtium, with a fairly long stem, and replace the cork. It 
will now hold the leafy shoot up in the carbon-dioxide gas, while 
the stem will be under water. Set the basin—jar, plant, and all 
—where it will be in strong sunlight for a couple of days. Then 
remove the plant. Slip a piece of glass under the mouth of the 
jar and lift it out of the water. Turn it right side up. Pour in 
some limewater, uncovering the jar as little as possible, and 
shake it up. The limewater does not turn milky, or if at all, 
only slightly so. The growing plant then has used up the carbon 
dioxide. Light a splinter of wood and shove it down into the 
jar; it burns, showing not only that the carbon dioxide has gone 
but that oxygen has reappeared. The growing plant in making 
food gives off oxygen too. 

Oxygen eliminated .—Carbon dioxide, water, and the nitroge¬ 
nous substances which are absorbed by the roots are united in 
the leaf. Through the activity of the living parts of the leaf, 
which are energized by the sunlight, they are combined into the 
substances which the plant needs for growth and work. We 
have seen that such things as sugar and starch are formed, but 
even more complex substances are also produced, namely, those 
nitrogenous compounds in which the life-processes go on. Not 
all the elements in the simple substances named above are 
needed by the plant. There is an excess of oxygen which is 


402 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


given off from the leaves growing in sunlight. That this occurs 
rapidly when the plant is well supplied with carbon dioxide and 
water is easily shown. 

Fill two wide-mouthed jars two-thirds full of water. In each 
put a spray of water plant, like Cabomba, Myriophyllum, or 
Elodea (p. 6). One may even use a clover plant, which ordi¬ 
narily does not grow under water. Cover the plant spray in 

each jar with a glass funnel 
that has a short stem. The 
stem may be cut off by 
making a deep scratch with 
a three-cornered file on the 
glass where one desires to 
break it. Grasp the funnel 
stem in the hands, put the 
thumb nails back to back, 
with the nails opposite the 
file mark, and try to bend 
the glass, when it will readily 
snap off at the desired point 
(Fig. 287). 

Take a test tube and after 
filling it with water hold the 
thumb over the mouth of it 
Fig. 287—Method of breaking glass a nd invert it in the water, 
tubing: upper, making the scratch; lower, Take ^ thumb a and 

pressure opposite the scratch. . Ml 

with its mouth still under 
water, place the tube over the end of the funnel stem, which 
must also be under water. Let it stand full of water. Do the 
same with another test tube in the other jar. Set both jars in 
the window where they will get good light. 

Carbon dioxide a plant food .—So far both jars are alike. 
Make a carbon-dioxide generator according to the following 
directions: Fit a cork in the mouth of a test tube. With a 
rat-tail file punch and file out of the center of the cork a hole big 







SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


403 


enough to receive tightly a small glass tube. Cut off a foot of 
the glass tubing in the same way as the stem of the funnel was 
cut. Hold this in the flame of an alcohol lamp or Bunsen burner 
(gas) so that a spot about four inches from one end will be heated. 
Just above the tip of the blue central part of the flame is the 



Fig. 288.—Method of bending glass tubing. Turn the tubing in the flame 
until it is red-hot, then (lower figure) bend it slowly. 

hottest place, and as glass does not carry heat easily this may be 
done while the tube is held in the bare fingers. As the glass heats 
it softens. When soft enough bend it slowly, so as to make a 
delivery tube like that shown in Fig. 288. Take the tubing out 
of the flame gradually so that it will cool slowly. Put the shorter 
end of this tube through the cork. In the test tube place three 





404 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


or four bits of marble (calcium carbonate) as big as peas. Fill 
the tube one-fourth full of water. Add a little (fifteen or twenty 
drops) of chlorhydric acid. Handle the acid -carefully. It 
burns clothing or the fingers. If you get it on the fingers wash 
it off at once. The acid causes the marble to break up and give 
off carbon dioxide. Insert the cork with delivery tube into the 
mouth of the test tube and hang the delivery tube over the side 
of one wide-mouthed jar so that its end will be under water. 
The carbon dioxide will run into the water, where it is absorbed. 
This should be repeated daily. 

The green plants in the sunlight will give off bubbles of gas 
(oxygen) as growth occurs. This gas is caught by the funnels- 
and carried to the test tubes, where it accumulates, displacing the 
water. It will collect much more rapidly in the jar supplied 
with carbon dioxide. (Soda water and pop are charged with 
carbon dioxide. You may pour a glass of white pop into one 
jar every day, dipping out some of the water in the jar to make 
room for it, if that is an easier task than generating carbon 
dioxide.) When a half test tube full of the oxygen has accumu¬ 
lated, test it by removing the test tube and thrusting into the 
gas a glowing splinter of wood. It will burst into flame. 

Plant wastes.—Certain waste substances are excreted by 
plants during growth, as we have already seen. Oxygen is a 
waste product in the production of plant food. Carbon dioxide 
is a waste product in respiration in plants as in animals. Since 
plants never move very rapidly and are sluggish even in their 
internal activities they do not have to breathe very hard. All 
the plants one can grow in a bow window do not give off as much 
carbon dioxide at night, when respiration is going on and food 
manufacture is not, as a single burning candle would give off. 
It is the active animal, especially the warm-blooded one, that 
breathes fast; but the plant does manufacture food rapidly in 
the sunlight. Plants therefore ordinarily give off much oxygen 
which animals breathe, and use as food material much carbon 
dioxide which animals in breathing give off as waste. 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


405 


Roots give off acid .—Acid is also excreted from the roots of 
plants. This may be shown as follows: Put the roots of a 
growing plant, like a seedling pea or sunflower, into water colored 
with blue litmus. Litmus is a substance which changes color 
on contact with acid, the blue color becoming red. Any alkaline 
substance, like ammonia or limewater, will change it back to 
blue. Take a little of the blue-litmus solution or a piece of blue- 
litmus paper and add a drop of acid to it; it turns red. Add lime- 
water to the red solution until it turns blue again. Let the plant 
grow in the blue-litmus solution or in water containing a strip 
of blue-litmus paper obtained from a druggist. The color will 
shortly change, showing that the roots are giving off acid. 

Plants growing continuously in one location tend to poison 
the soil as well as to exhaust from it the particular mineral sub¬ 
stances they need as foods. So crops must be rotated to avoid 
growing the same crop year after year on the same land, or else 
special pains must be taken to eliminate poisonous matter and 
to supply the exhausted food materials. 

Acid soils .—Sometimes a soil becomes so acid that it will 
grow only certain weeds that can thrive under such adverse 
conditions. Sheep sorrel is one of these. Many mosses, like 
the hairy caps, can endure an acid soil. You may test a soil 
for its acidity in this way: mix water with a half-tumbler of soil 
and stir it to the consistency of thick cake batter; then put a 
strip of blue-litmus paper in this and let it stand an hour. Take 
the litmus out and rinse it, and if it is pink or red the soil is 
acid. Such acid soils are treated with lime; with water this lime 
makes limewater, which, we have seen, is alkaline and counter¬ 
acts the acid. On heavy clays two or three tons per acre may 
be needed; sandy soils require much less, usually not over five 
hundred pounds, which is at the rate of about three pounds to 
the square rod. 

The Soil.—Soils differ from each other in the nature of 
the ingredients they contain and in their texture. Thus sand 
and gravel are pretty much alike except that the particles of 


406 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the latter are much coarser than those of the former. But 
sand, clay, and humus differ from each other in that the first 
consists of particles of quartz, the second of disintegrated feldspar 
(and some other substances), and the third of more or less pure 
plant debris, like decaying leaves. Rub a bit of moist soil 
between the fingers. If it contains much clay it feels greasy 
and, like putty, can be molded into various shapes. 

Weigh out a sample of garden soil. Put it in an iron pan 
whose weight you have also determined. Bake it gently in an 
oven until it is dry and weigh it again when cool. The loss of 
weight represents the moisture it contained. Bake it hard or 
heat it while covered with an iron cover over a hot flame or on 
a hot stove until the organic matter (humus) is burned out. 
Weigh again when cool to find out how much humus it contained. 
Mix what is left with water and stir it well. (There should 
be several times the volume of water that there is of soil.) After 
stirring let it settle a moment and then pour off the water. The 
fine clay and silt will pour off, the coarser sand will be left. Dry 
the sand and weigh it. Thus a soil may be analyzed roughly to 
find out what it contains. 

Water in soil— Secure a generous sample of coarse sand, of 
fine sand, of clay, and of humus. The latter may be scraped up 
in the woods, where it is the very dark surface soil. The clay 
may need pounding to pulverize it. Tie a cloth over one end of 
each of four student-lamp chimneys or wide glass tubes two feet 
long, and fill one such with clay, another with coarse sand, a 
third with fine sand, and a fourth with humus. Stand all, 
cloth ends down, in a shallow pan and tie them up to some 
support so that they will not fall over. Pour water into the 
pan. Watch to see in which soil the water rises fastest. After 
the tubes or chimneys have stood for twenty-four hours note 
in which soil the water has risen highest. 

Water rises in the soil by a force called capillary attraction. 
Take a bit of glass tubing six inches long. Heat the middle of it 
in the gas flame or in the flame of the alcohol lamp just as if you 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


407 


were going to bend it. Turn it slowly so that it will heat on all 
sides. When quite soft remove it from the flame and instantly 
pull on opposite ends. It will be drawn out into a fine tube. 
The tube of a broken thermometer will do instead of this. Dip 
the end of this fine tube in red ink. The ink rises to a consider¬ 
able height. Dip the end of a coarse tube in the ink and the 
ink rises only a little way. Such fine passageways occur between 
the soil particles and through them the water rises. The soil 
brings the water up to the plant from the deep water supplies 
much as a wick brings the oil up to the flame in a lamp. 

Retention of water in soil .—Fill a medicine dropper with 
water. Hold a clean dry pebble between the thumb and finger 
of your left hand and let a drop of water fall on it. Watch the 
water spread a little way over the surface. Drop another drop 
on the same place and watch it spread a little farther over the 
surface. Continue this until the whole surface of the pebble is 
moist. Thus we have formed a film of moisture on the surface 
of the pebble. Keep adding more water and soon the pebble 
has all it can hold and drops of water begin to fall off its lower 
side. Examine some coarse soil and see that it is made up, in 
large part, of bits of stone. Fine soil can be examined under a 
lens and it will be seen to be composed largely of bits of stone 
that are very small. When the raindrops fall on these tiny 
pebbles each small stone is covered with a film of moisture. 
When it has as much as it can hold the water drops from it to a 
lower bit of stone and thus the rain penetrates the soil, passing 
from one tiny particle to another below it, but leaving on each a 
film of moisture. The rain sinks deeper and deeper into the 
soil until it comes to a layer of rock or of hard soil that it cannot 
penetrate. Here it accumulates and remains. Our wells tap 
these water reservoirs and from them we draw our constant 
supply. 

Secure three tin cans of equal size and of about a quart 
capacity. Punch several holes in the bottom of each, or use the 
lamp chimneys of the previous experiment. Fill one can full 


408 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


with sandy soil, another with clay, and a third with leaf mold, all 
well pulverized. Let all the cans stand several days in a warm 
place until the soil is dry. Fill a pint measuring cup with water 
and slowly pour water on the surface of the sandy soil in the first 
can. Catch what runs through in a dish and measure it to see 
how much of the pint of water the sandy soil retained. Do the 
same with each of the other cans. What sort of soil holds 
most moisture ? 

Firming .—Plant oats in each can, pressing the oats into the 
soil without packing the earth about them at all, except on one 
side of the can filled with fine leaf mold. Press the earth firmly 
about the seed on one side of this can and leave it light and open 
on the other side. Let all the cans stand uncovered where they 
will be warm. Do not water them at all. In which can do the 
oats grow best ? Why ? What is the effect of firming the soil 
about seeds when they are planted ? 

Cultivation .—Aside from pulling the weeds out of the soil so 
that they will not take up the plant food which we want the crop 
to have, cultivation breaks up the surface soil, pulverizes it, and 
so destroys the continuity of capillary tubes between soil particles 
that evaporation is checked. This is very essential in times of 
drought and is the secret of dry farming. To illustrate the point 
take three flowerpots of good size (five or six inches). Fill all 
three with the same sort of soil, well firmed, to within an inch 
of the top. Moisten the soil in each with a measured quantity 
of water, say a half-pint. Sprinkle a half-inch of dry sand on 
top of one, a half-inch of soil like that in the pots on the second, 
and add nothing to the third. Weigh each pot and its contained 
soil. Let all three stand side by side and weigh each again after 
a day, after two days. Which loses the most moisture and why ? 
Why is the garden raked after spading it ? 


SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 


409 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 

Atkinson, George F. First Studies of Plant Life. Boston: Ginn & Co. 
$0.72. 

Bergen and Caldwell. Introduction to Botany. Boston: Ginn & Co. 
$1.36. 

Coulter John M. Elementary Studies in Botany. New York: D. Appleton 
& Co. $1.40. 

Dana W. S. Plants and Their Children. New York: American Book Co- 
Farmers’ Bulletins: 

No. hi, The Farmer’s Interest in Good Seed. 

No. 428, Testing Farm Seed in the Home. In the Rurual School. 
Warren, G. F. Elements of Agriculture. The Macmillan Co. $1. 20. 

1 Farmers’ bulletins are issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D.C. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE GARDEN 

Garden values.—The garden is an excellent place for the 
growing child to acquire a number of very valuable experiences; 
he may dig in the dirt, plant his seeds, watch that mysterious 
unfolding of the new plant, nurture it, tend it, supply its wants, 
protect it. He may become skilful in the very useful art of 
gardening and thereby increase both his creature comforts and 
his heart’s delight. In his garden he must cultivate some homely 
virtues: patience, persistence, prudence. He must match his 
wits against the idiosyncrasies of the weather and against the 
ravages of hordes of voracious insects and blighting fungi. He 
must learn to respect laws that are more immutable than those 
of the Medes and Persians. 

Phases of garden experiences.—For the little child the 

garden is a means of contact with a new world. He will be 
content to learn to recognize the new plants, both flowers and 
vegetables, and to acquire a measure of control over them. 
Usually he may not be given the responsibility of a plot of his 
own, for the task soon palls upon him, but he will work willingly 
under direction at the varied tasks that may ’be assigned in the 
common garden of kindergarten or first and second grades. 
Soon, however, he wants his very own garden, either at home or 
at school, where he may do as he pleases. And he usually 
pleases to plant a dozen or more vegetables and flowers in a 
plot three by six that is speedily overrun with weeds, unless 
the teacher has good tact and can maintain interest against 
strenuous odds. Next he wants a sizable patch in which to 
raise things he can sell; this is primarily the opportunity 
of the home garden. Finally his garden must assume the role 
of a demonstration plot, a specialist’s garden, or an adjunct to a 


410 


THE GARDEN 


411 

chicken project, in order to keep him at it year after year with 
unabated interest. 

Types of gardens.—The school garden may be: (1) a source 
of supply for nature-study material; (2) a project, or series of 
projects, useful primarily for educating the pupil,, incidentally 
for growing vegetables or flowers; (3) a commercial venture as a 
means of the personal development of the child (Fig. 289); 
(4) an agency in beautifying the home and the school grounds; 



Fig. 289.—The school garden 


and any or all of these purposes may be embodied in the one 
garden. The school garden is any garden used for educative 
purposes by the teacher. It may be on the school grounds, in 
the back yard of the pupil, or on a vacant lot. It is not its 
location but its aim that makes it a school garden. 

Laying out and planting plots.—The plots of ground for 
kindergartners and for pupils of the lower grades, perhaps Grades 
I and II, may be laid out as class exercises, and the soil prepara¬ 
tion (after the spading and rough raking, which must be done by 
hired help) and the seeding will be done under direction of the 






412 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


teacher (Fig. 290). The instruction should be confined to the 
essentials and should be imparted by example rather than by 
precept. Show the children how to rake so as to break up the 
coarse chunks and how to pulverize the soil to a considerable 
depth. The rake is moved back and forth with teeth down over 
a limited area until that is finely pulverized, arid then an adjacent 
small area is similarly raked. Insist that this be done very 



Fig. 290.—Planting the garden 


effectually all over the plot. See to it that the drills—shallow 
grooves made in the soil for the reception of the seed—are made 
straight. Stretch a string between stakes set at the ends of the 
prospective row and see that this string parallels the nearby path 
or else is at right angles to it, so that the garden will have the 
appearance of being well laid out. The necessary measurements 
with yardstick or tape will afford good practice in practical 
mensuration. The drill may be made with a strip of inch board 
with beveled edge, or with the back of the rake, and should be 




THE GARDEN 


413 


varied in depth according to the size of the seeds to be planted. 
The general rule in planting is that a seed goes below the surface 
a distance equal to its greatest diameter. The space between 
rows should be ample. For such vegetables as the radish this 
space need not be over a foot; for others, like carrots, eighteen 
inches to two feet; for some, like corn, it must be four or five 
feet (see planting table in such books as Barnes’s Suburban 
Garden Guide). It must be generous enough to make the weed¬ 
ing easy, as crowded rows always make hoeing difficult or almost 
impossible and result in an unsightly and unproductive garden. 

Paths .—The paths between rows or between beds should be 
made on the same level as the beds themselves, and should not 
be sunk below that level unless it is desirable that they act as 
drains to carry off excessive moisture. If the beds are raised 
above the level of the paths, they tend to dry out, as the water 
drains into the paths, and that is usually not favorable, for 
growing crops need abundant moisture. 

Position of seed .—The seeds should be placed in the drills 
at definite distances from each other. This is easily possible 
with large seeds like peas and beans, which should be spaced 
four to six inches apart, but it is evidently impossible without 
unnecessary care if the seeds are small like those of lettuce; such 
seed is sprinkled thinly in the drill, and later the plants are 
thinned out. Soaking the larger seeds in water for twenty-four 
hours facilitates germination. Seeds like nuts with hard outer 
coats germinate more promptly if they are carefully cracked (not 
smashed) before planting. Even the position of the seed in the 
soil makes a difference in the speed with which the little plant 
appears above the ground. Thus if the “eye” of a bean is 
turned down, it will usually come up more quickly than when set 
in any other position. This might be demonstrated by experi¬ 
ment, planting beans in several different positions and then 
watching the row to see which will appear first. In a similar way 
try corn kernels planted in several positions. It is best to put 
in several kernels or beans in each of the several positions, else 


4 H 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the results may be due to inherent differences in the seeds rather 
than to difference of position in planting. 

Firm the earth —After the seeds are scattered in the drills 
cover them and make the soil firm over them by pressing it down 
over the seeds with a narrow board or with the fingers. This is 
another trick that facilitates growth, as it enables the seed to 
draw necessary moisture readily from the soil closely pressed 
against it, and the growing roots become more securely estab¬ 
lished in firm soil. It is not, however, a commendable practice 
in clay soils that tend to bake under a hot sun. 

Lower-grade work—Have each grade plant a different set of 
flowers and vegetables, so that each child will have opportunity 
to become familiar with a number of different varieties. The 
average flower garden or vegetable garden, in most communities, 
has too few things in it. There are very many easily grown 
flowers and vegetables that make possible a succession of bloom 
and a variety of diet that will add to the attractiveness and 
health of the community. The intelligent teacher, through the 
work of the school garden, may help to introduce desirable plants 
into the community and may teach the proper succession of 
vegetables and the artistic grouping of flowers. The following 
plants may be commended for the different grades: 


Kindergartners 


Calendula 

Candytuft 


Flowers 


Vegetables 

Radishes 

Lettuce 


Castor bean 
Gourds 
Nasturtium 
Sweet alyssum 


Wax beans 


Grade I 


Hop 

Mignonette 

Stocks 


Flowers 

Centaurea 


Vegetables 

Chard 

Beets 

Pumpkins 


THE GARDEN 


415 


Grade II 


Ageratum 


Flowers 


Vegetables 

Carrots 


Balsam 

Cosmos 


Dwarf peas 


Morning-glory- 


Potatoes 
Pop corn 


Petunia 

Verbena 


Bulb planting.—In addition to handling seeds, children even 
of these lower grades may well learn to plant bulbs and to grow 
plants from cuttings. Kindergartners may help to plant some 
of the bulbs on the school grounds in the fall, an effort that will 
yield beds of attractive bloom in the spring. The bed is best 
located in a spot that is protected from north and west winds 
by walls of the building or by screens of shrubbery. The soil 
should be well worked, spaded, and raked fine. When the bulbs 
are set out, the large ones should be planted fairly deep, the 
smaller ones nearer the surface, the top about an inch below 
the surface. The hole for the bulb is made with a trowel or 
with the fingers, and the earth should be pressed firmly around it. 
The best bulbs for kindergartners to try are paper-white and 
poet’s narcissus, Von Sion yellow daffodils, and mixed crocuses. 
First and second grades may try tulips and hyacinths. Of the 
former, the scarlet Due Van Thol and the red and yellow Keizer- 
kroon are good varieties. The white and pink hyacinths are 
surer of blooming freely than the others. 

Bulbs in water— Some of the bulbs may be planted in pots 
for indoor blooming. The paper-white narcissus and the 
daffodils may also easily be grown in water (Fig. 291). An 
ordinary bowl may be used for the latter purpose, but one may 
also obtain glass bulb dishes from any florist. Fill the bowl or 
dish two-thirds full of gravel or crushed stone. Pea coal answers 
the purpose very well and does not look unsightly if some sand 
is sprinkled over the surface. Set the bulb, or even two or three 
bulbs, in one dish, placing the broad end down on top of the 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


\i6 

gravel, and then keep the dish filled with water up to the level 
of the bottom of the bulb. The narcissus may be left in the room 
from the start, but daffodils should be put away in a closet, or 
preferably in the dark cellar, until the roots have well developed. 
The roots anchor the bulb by growing among the gravel or bits 
of stone, and by the time the leaves and blossom stalks have 
developed they hold the plant securely in an upright position. 



Fig. 291.—Bulbs indoors 


Tulips and hyacinths are best put into earth, although both of 
them will grow in water if treated like the daffodils. 

Bulbs in earth — Fill a three-inch paper pot half full of ordi¬ 
nary garden earth, press it down, and place the bulb in the pot, 
broad end down. Fill in enough more earth to cover the bulb 
so that nothing but its very tip protrudes. With lead pencil 
plainly mark each pot to indicate what it contains. Put the 
pots in the dark cellar or in a closet and keep them quite cool 
while the root system is growing. Water them regularly twice 
a week, so as to keep the earth moist but not wet. The bulbs 
will develop leaves, and in the midst of the leaves the flower 





THE GARDEN 


417 


stalk. This growth should be allowed to continue while the 
plants are in the dark until the leaves are three or four inches 
high. They may then be brought out into a light place, but not 
into a very warm one. 

Premature blossoming .—If the blossom buds begin to swell 
rapidly and look as if they were going to open before the cluster 
of buds is out of the leaves, roll some dark paper into narrow 
cylinders six inches long and cover each plant with one. The 
light, coming down to the plant through the open cylinder, will 
make both leaves and blossom stalk grow tall rapidly. If bulbs 
are potted in September they may be allowed to develop in the 
cool cellar until early in December, and then the blossoms will 
open in a week or two after bringing them upstairs into the 
warmth of the rooms. If Easter blooms are wanted plant 
correspondingly later. 

Trenching .—While this procedure is best for schoolroom or 
home culture when carried on by little children, the process may 
profitably be varied with older pupils. Plant, as described above, 
in four-inch earthen pots. Stop the hole in the pot with a bit 
of stone before the earth is put into it. Water the pots thor¬ 
oughly and then bury them in the garden in a trench that has 
been dug a foot deep and as long as is necessary for all of the pots 
containing bulbs. Set the pots on the bottom of the trench and 
fill the trench full of earth. Set stakes at the corners of the 
trench so that it can readily be located. The bulbs in the pots 
are to be left here for six or eight weeks, or longer, while the roots 
develop sufficiently to support the leaves and blossoms, when 
the pots are dug up. If the bulbs are put in trenches in Sep¬ 
tember they may be dug out by late November for Christmas 
bloom or may be left until later for Easter. Set them in the 
cellar or some other dark, cool place for a few days, then bring 
them out into the light. Leaves should grow very rapidly and 
blossoms should also come out promptly. 

Cuttings.—Potatoes were suggested as one of the vegetables 
to be planted by the second grade. Let the children cut the 


418 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


potatoes so as to make their own “seed.” The potato can be 
cut into as many pieces as it has eyes, or into larger pieces with 
two eyes for each piece. If the potatoes of your region are at all 
likely to be infested with scab, or if the seed potatoes have any 
indication of scab upon them, it is well to sterilize them before 
cutting. To do this, wash the potato clean and then immerse it 
for a few minutes in 5 per cent formaldehyde, which is made by 
diluting commercial formalin with six or seven times its own 
volume of water. The solution will make any cuts or scratches 
on the hands sting, but will do no harm. Holes to receive the 
seed are made in the well spaded and raked ground and should 
be six inches deep, two feet apart in the rows, and the rows 
should be three feet apart. Put a piece of the “seed” in each 
hole and cover it with earth. Do not hill potatoes. You 
might hill one row and when the crop is dug compare the yield 
from this row with that from the others. You will know then 
that it is not wise to hill them (see potato beetle, p. 119). 

Children in the grades may well learn to make cuttings of 
the plants growing in the school garden in order to carry them 
through the winter indoors. Fill some good-sized earthenware 
pans, or some ordinary wooden boxes that are six or seven 
inches deep, with sand up to within an inch of the top. From 
geranium plants break off stems that are four or five inches long, 
or break the main stalk of a geranium plant into bits that are 
three or four inches long. Break off all the leaves except one 
large one or two smaller ones at the upper end of such a piece. 
Stick such pieces down into the ground, leaving just the upper 
part of the stem, with its leaf or leaves, out of the ground. Keep 
them in a moderately cool place and water them sparingly. If 
the ground is kept too wet or if the plants are kept too warm the 
stem is likely to rot before the roots start. Such slips or cuttings 
may be put into a tumbler of water and the roots will start in it. 

Potting the rooted slips .—Many other plants, such as bego¬ 
nias, varieties of cactus, fuchsias, and others, may be started 
in the same way. It usually takes from four to six weeks for 


THE GARDEN 


419 


the roots to develop, and then the plants may be transferred 
from the sand pan or box to small pots of good garden soil. 
After two or three leaves have developed they may be repotted 
in larger pots. In this way two or three geraniums, brought from 
the pupils’ homes or purchased in the greenhouse, may, during 
the winter, be multiplied enough to make it possible to set out 
a generous number of blossoming plants which will be an orna¬ 
ment to the school grounds. 

Individual plots.—Pupils of the third and fourth grades will 
probably want to have plots of their own with which they can do 
pretty much as they please. They have worked in the common 
plots in kindergarten and lower grades and have acquired some 
skill in handling garden tools and in rearing both vegetables and 
flowers. It is a fairly good experiment to throw them on their 
own responsibility and to let them plant their individual plots 
somewhat as they please. This will probably not produce an 
attractive school garden, for they will frequently want to plant 
a dozen different things in their small areas; but inasmuch as 
we are endeavoring primarily to develop children and not to 
grow garden stuff it is wise to let the garden suffer if it is of any 
advantage to the children. The originality and self-expression 
th?t the child achieves, together, often, with an acknowledgment 
at the end of the season that he needs the teacher’s guidance and 
instruction, are worth-while ends. 

Plants for individual plots— The pupil will probably want to 
plant in his own garden some of the things that he tried in the 
common plots of the lower grades. Here are some additional 
plants that may be suggested to him. Flowers: asters, car¬ 
nation, chrysanthemum, four-o’clock, foxglove, hollyhock, lark¬ 
spur, lobelia, phlox, poppy, salvia. Vegetables: lima beans, 
cabbage, eggplant, onion, parsnip, squash, sweet corn, tomatoes, 
turnips. This list includes some plants, such as asters, chrys¬ 
anthemums, and salvias, that need to be planted early in trays 
and then set out. It includes also some perennials, such as 
hollyhock, perennial phlox, and larkspur, that can be planted 


420 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


in early September and that will then develop into little plants 
which will bloom the next summer. They may also be planted 
early in the spring in the pans, and there is some likelihood that 
they will then blossom the same season. 

Planting in trays.—The seeds of most of these perennials are 
small. They are planted as follows: A flat earthenware pan or 
wooden tray three or four inches deep is filled with earth to 
within an inch of the top. This earth should be sifted, and it is 
well to bake it thoroughly in order to destroy weed seeds, after 
which it must be well moistened. After making the surface of 
the earth firm and sprinkling the seeds upon it, cover them with 
a thin layer of earth and gently make it firm. Cut half a dozen 
thicknesses of newspaper of the proper size to fit the top of the 
pan or tray. Lay these on the earth and moisten them. The 
water poured on the paper will not wash out the seeds below. 
The moistened paper may be left on until the little plants begin 
to break through the earth. 

Setting out —As soon as the young plantlets have developed 
their second leaves transplant them in rows in other trays, and 
after they have grown to a height of two or three inches plant 
them out in the garden. Seeds of aster, chrysanthemum, salvias, 
and other plants may be planted in early March, in the latitude 
of Chicago, and will be ready to set out by the last of April. 
These seedling plants should be grown where it is moderately 
cool and in a window where they can have light. If they are kept 
too warm or if they are back in the room away from the light 
they become spindling. It is difficult to produce hardy plants 
for transplanting under such conditions. 

Competitive planting.—It may be well to make this task of 
growing little plants in the trays and transplanting them to 
the garden the chief garden work of these grades. In the list 
of vegetables given above there are several that need to be 
started indoors—cabbage, eggplant, and tomato, for example. 
It might be interesting in these grades, after the method of 
growing the little plants indoors has been learned in the third 


THE GARDEN 


421 


grade, to have a race in the fourth grade to see what child can 
produce the earliest bloom or have the earliest vegetable from 
these plants that must be started indoors. This early growing 
is one of the arts of the successful truck gardener. Quite com¬ 
monly, in the early spring, prices are very much higher for the 
first vegetables that come in than they are. for the later ones, and 
consequently it is very much worth while for the truck gardener 
to beat his competitors to mar¬ 
ket, even by a few days. And 
it is always a matter of pride 
to have lettuce and cauliflower 
and tomatoes in the home gar¬ 
den ahead of one’s neighbors. 

Cabbage and lettuce.— 

Cabbage and cauliflower 
should be set out in the garden 
when the young plants have 
three or four leaves. It is well 
to shade the young plants dur¬ 
ing the heat of the day, and, 
if they are set out very early, 
to cover them at night. In ^ 2Q2 _ Taking plant out of ^ 
the small garden old tin cans t0 transplant, 
serve this purpose very well. 

Lettuce may be set out when the plants have two or three leaves 
on them, as they will stand light frosts when so young as this. 

Tomatoes.—Tomatoes, cabbage, and cauliflower will not 
stand frosts and may not be set out until all danger from them is 
past, unless one is willing to take chances. Tomato plants may 
be six or seven inches high when transplanted. All four of the 
vegetables mentioned may be set out when larger than stated 
above, if they have been transplanted from trays to small pots, 
in which they have been grown as individual plants. 

Plants grown in pots .—It is much easier to transplant fairly 
large plants from pots than from trays, since in the former case 






422 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the root system needs to be disturbed very little. To remove the 
plant from the pot, take hold of the plant stem close to the 
ground and spread the rest of the hand out over the mouth of 
the pot. Turn the pot upside down and strike the rim of the pot 
lightly on the edge of the table or tap it with the handle of the 
trowel (Fig. 292). Two or three light jars will loosen the earth 
from the sides of the pot, and together with the roots it will drop 
upon the outspread hand. The pot can then be lifted off and 



Fig. 293.—Setting out plants from pots 


the plant set into the hole in the earth previously dug for it. 
PressThe earth firmly about it (Fig. 293). 

Staking and trimming .—Tomatoes are to be staked, even 
from the time when they are set out in the home garden. It is 
well to let only a single stalk grow up from the roots, and this 
stalk should be tied to a stick with raffia or strips of cloth, but 
not so tightly as to retard growth. As the plant grows taller 
substitute a taller trellis for the stake used at first. In addition 
to the main stem let two or three branches grow out from the 





THE GARDEN 


423 


stalk about a foot above ground. With good soil such varieties 
as Earlianna and Matchless will grow to a height of three or four 
feet. When these plants are well loaded with tomatoes it is 
advisable to trim off the tips of the branches so that they will 
mature the crop that they have rather than form new tomatoes. 
Such varieties as Ponderosa and Grand Pacific will grow to a 
height of five to eight feet. The tomatoes will weigh a pound or, 



Fig. 294— The tomato plot, showing plants tied up to stakes (photograph 
from Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.). 


in the case of Grand Pacific, even two pounds apiece if the tips 
of the branches are kept trimmed back and not too many 
tomatoes are allowed to form on a single plant (Fig. 294). 

It is well to plant at least three varieties of tomatoes, one a 
very early variety like Earlianna, one a midseason tomato like 
Matchless and Ponderosa, and one for late fall use like Grand 
Pacific. Other equally good varieties may be found mentioned 
in any of the seed catalogues. 





424 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The demonstration plot.—Beyond the early grades, if not 
sooner, under most conditions the teacher should endeavor to 
stimulate interest in the home garden, reserving the school 
garden for a demonstration plot. This plot may be parceled 
out to individual pupils, each of whom has his own problem to 
work out, or it may be worked as a grade plot, all pupils helping 
to care for the particular project under way. The tasks assigned 
in the fifth and sixth grades may be the culture of some of the 
less common vegetables and flowers or the care of smaller fruits, 
such as currants, strawberries, and grapes. Competitive tests 
to see which pupils can grow the largest pumpkins, the largest 
sugar beet, or the maximum weight of tomatoes from a single 
plant may be inaugurated. Pupils may select some three or four 
vegetables and flowers that they wish to learn how to grow, and 
a row of each may be started in the plot for that grade; or each 
pupil may take some one variety for his or her own share of 
the school plot. 

The cabbage family .—A grade garden devoted to the various 
varieties of the cabbage family makes a good demonstration plot. 
Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and 
kohl-rabi can all be grown, and one or more of these plants are 
almost certain to be a novelty in any locality. Early Wakefield 
is a good early cabbage; late flat Dutch is a late sort that is 
valuable. In cauliflowers early dwarf Erfurt and snowball are 
excellent. Early white and mammoth white are good varieties 
of broccoli. Brussels sprouts are well grown from seed of Long 
Island and Dalkeith. Early white Vienna kohl-rabi is about as 
good a variety as any and the Scotch kales are among the best. 
These plants can all be started as has already been described 
for cabbage and can be set out when danger from frost is over. 
Pupils may read up on the care of these vegetables in such 
garden books as are available (see bibliography). The Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture issues free bulletins on many of them, as do 
several states. When a cabbage plot is undertaken, pupils are 
very sure to learn much from the school plot concerning the 


THE GARDEN 


425 


life-history of the cabbage worm. It is an interesting life- 
history (see chapter on “Insects”)- It is essential to know how 
to apply the remedy for this pest. Spray the plants when worms 
appear, and as often as they appear, until they begin to head, 
with one-fifth ounce of Paris green dissolved in two gallons of 
hot water (or one gram per liter). 

To test varieties .—It would be worth while to grow a number 
of different kinds of cabbages or of other vegetables in the grade 
garden to see what kind is best adapted to the particular soil and 
climatic conditions of the locality. One school child of eight 
tested out twenty or more varieties of radish seed and found that 
one sort produced in her yard five or six times as large a crop as 
any other. Thus, after trying many varieties for several seasons, 
she settled on this one variety as her main reliance, and every 
spring for several years sold several dollars’ worth of radishes. 
The demonstration school plot might do good service in any 
community by testing out a number of varieties of all the com¬ 
moner vegetables. The following vegetables are good ones to 
try: celery, cress, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, lettuce, musk- 
melon, crook-neck squash, summer squash, and spinach. A 
similar list of flowers is as follows: asters, Canterbury bells, 
columbine, carnations, cosmos, foxglove, hollyhocks, larkspur, 
petunia. The teacher should keep notes on the successes and 
failures, the methods of culture, etc., so that her experience will 
at least be cumulative. . 

Asparagus.—In addition the children of these grades may 
have the care of the asparagus bed, the rhubarb, and the small 
fruits. In light soil asparagus roots (it does not grow true from 
seed) are to be set in fairly deep trenches. Dig the trench two 
feet deep and a foot wide. Put eight inches of manure in the 
trench, and after stamping it down cover it with a layer of 
mellow soil six inches deep. Make it firm. Put in the roots 
three feet apart and cover them with soil made firm. In heavy 
soil, such as rich clay, the roots may be set ten inches deep in 
deeply spaded soil, well fertilized. Rows should be three or four 


426 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


feet apart. In the early spring, when weed seeds are just ger¬ 
minating, and before the asparagus stalks appear, salt the surface 
of the ground heavily with rock salt, five pounds to a square rod. 
This kills the weeds. Keep the later weeds pulled and the bed 
well tilled between rows. If three-year-old roots are planted one 
spring the asparagus may be cut sparingly the next; but if two- 
year-old roots are set let the bed stand two years, or even three 
years, before cutting. Ordinarily not more than five or six 
stalks should be cut from each root in a year. Let the rest grow. 
Roots below ground are formed in proportion to the growth of 
tops above. Let the tops stand until killed by frost, or even 
until early spring, but clear them off before salting. When the 
tops grow thickly five or six feet high, the stalks appearing early 
in the spring will be nearly an inch in diameter and very tender. 
Such stalks will grow only from roots that are not exhausted 
from too much cutting during the preceding season. 

Currant cuttings.—In the early spring, before the buds on 
the currant bushes show signs of bursting, cut off some of the 
twigs. Place these in a box of sand six inches deep for propaga¬ 
tion. Each twig, which is about six inches long, is to be stripped 
of all but its uppermost pair of buds and is then to be stuck deeply 
into the sand, so that the buds are just above ground. Keep 
the sand moist, not wet, and set the box in a cool place, like the 
cellar, but not in a place where the temperature will ever fall 
near the freezing-point. Roots will form on many of these twigs, 
leaves will develop, and when the warm spring days come the 
plants may be set out in the ground. Anyone in the community 
who raises currants will give some cuttings for the school garden. 
You may also buy one or two plants, and when they have a good 
start take cuttings from them. Plants should be set at least 
five feet apart each way. Red Dutch is the best variety, as it 
is hardy and is free from the borers that attack currants. Other 
varieties are larger (cherry, Fay, etc.) and they may be tried. 
Currants need pruning yearly, the old canes being cut out, since 
only the young ones bear the fruit. The currant worms are 


THE GARDEN 


427 


eliminated by dusting the leaves freely with white hellebore. 
Leaf blight, or leaf spot, is prevented by spraying the unfolding 
leaves with Bordeaux mixture. Pupils should read cultural 
directions for currants so as to make the currant patch a neigh¬ 
borhood model. 

Grape culture.—In a similar way cuttings of grapes may be 
propagated. In ordering the plants select them so as to have 
several varieties, such as Catawba, Niagara, Diamond, Moore’s 
early, and Worden, which mature at different times. The usual 
country grape arbor bears worthless grapes because the vines are 
not properly pruned. Prune back heavily, leaving only one 
main stalk five or six feet high to grow. Let it bear only two or 
three horizontal branches, and cut these back every fall (late) to 
within four or five feet of the main stem. Support the vine on 
a trellis. 

The home garden.—This garden may serve a variety of pur¬ 
poses. By it the child may contribute in no small measure to 
the support of the home; and the flower garden will surely add to 
the pleasure of the home. While vegetables are usually cheap, 
a fresh supply from the back yard at all seasons conduces to a 
healthful diet and to economic self-support (Fig. 295). An 
ordinary back-yard garden fifty by seventy-five feet may grow, 
under the care of a boy or girl, from twenty-five to seventy-five 
dollars’ worth of garden stuff. This is no mean contribution to 
the income of the ordinary family. Much of this will be for 
home consumption, but not a little may be sold in the neighbor¬ 
hood if the plants are chosen wisely. One boy of the author’s 
acquaintance sold $2.85 worth of head lettuce from his patch. 
Another disposed of $4.25 worth of golden bantam sweet corn. 
One girl sold $7.50 worth of tomato plants out of her cold frame 
and then had plenty left to plant her patch. One strawberry 
patch of a hundred hills produced ninety-eight quarts in one 
season for home consumption, canning, and sale. These choice 
early berries sold at fifteen cents a quart. This was only one 
bed in the home garden. 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


4 28 


Family interest .—Not infrequently the father and mother 
become interested in the boy’s or the girl’s garden, and as a 
result the whole family works to keep things shipshape. If there 
is an extensive home garden the child should have his own plot 
to plan, plant, and care for. Parents may help him and he may 
help in their garden plot, but the responsibility of an area all his 



Fig. 295.—A back-yard garden 


own is one feature that tends to develop the desirable qualities 
in the growing child. 

The farm acre .—The child’s home plot may be primarily a 
commercial venture. This is most likely to be true on the farm, 
where the boy may be given an acre to cultivate and to devote 
to a single crop. And it is surprising what returns have come in 
from these one-acre plots. One boy I know grew $300 worth of 
onions on his acre; another produced over $50 worth of garlic on 
a tenth of an acre (Fig. 296). One incorrigible boy—a perpetual 







THE GARDEN 


429 


source of annoyance to the teacher until the garden project was 
started.—grew cabbage on his little garden plot 4 by 10 feet. The 
next year he begged for a larger space. He had no back yard, 
as he was a lad of the city tenements. On the larger plot he 
again grew cabbage and made enough money to hire a vacant 
lot the next year. On this he grew cabbage and cleared enough 
to hire a horse and to purchase three acres at the end of the car 
line. That three-acre garden was maintained for three years, 



Fig. 296.—A farm boy’s acre of onions 


and then the boy, only in his teens, became a capable truck 
gardener. 

The teacher's task .—The teacher’s task is to stimulate inter¬ 
est in the home gardens, to supervise them in an informal 
way, to advise, and to be counselor in emergencies. He must 
put the boy or girl in touch with sources of information—books, 
pamphlets, the state agricultural college, the national Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture—so that the chosen crop may be raised in 
the most approved way. He must be able to arouse enthusiasm, 
so that when the youngster grows weary with the endless task of 
weeding, hoeing, and cultivating he may be able to keep him at 





430 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


it in spite of the difficulties. A garden task dropped when 
difficulties thicken might better never have been begun. Do not, 
therefore, encourage large projects until you have led the child 
successfully through (not into) small ones. All of this requires 
no small degree of skill, tact, and trouble. Let the teacher 
count the cost of such garden work before it is undertaken and 
not go into it simply because school gardens are in vogue. The 
superintendent should see to it that adequate time and facilities 
are given to the teacher who undertakes garden work. Since 
garden work must be well done to be at all worth while, the 
teacher who undertakes it should be largely relieved of other 
work if it is to be given a fair trial. 

The project plan.—With the two highest grades of the ele¬ 
mentary school the project plan is best pursued, both in the 
school garden and at home. The project undertaken may be of 
a somewhat more difficult nature than those already suggested. 
The beautification of the home grounds and the school grounds 
is a worth-while undertaking. Flower beds and an attractive 
lawn add to the appearance of the humblest home. Many a 
schoolhouse is gaunt and repulsive because no green thing grows 
in its grounds. Shrubs and trees wonderfully relieve the barren¬ 
ness of the school yard or the home grounds. 

Propagation of shrubs and trees.—The propagation of many 
of the ordinary lawn shrubs is easy. It is done as has already 
been described for the currants. In the early spring, when the 
pruning of such shrubs is going on, a supply of cuttings may 
usually be had for the asking. When rooted, these may be set 
out in rows in the school garden and may then be hoed, cul¬ 
tivated, and cared for like any other crop. In a year or two 
they will be ready to transplant to their permanent places on the 
school or home grounds. This is the way nursery stock is handled 
in propagation. A miniature nursery may thus be kept going in 
order to plant the school grounds, and stock may also be taken 
from it to the home grounds. A school might thus quite transform 
a community where shrubs were not freely used about the homes. 


THE GARDEN 


431 


In a similar way a tree nursery may be started. In the fall 
have a nutting party to gather acorns from the white oak, scar¬ 
let oak, or other desired species of oak, as well as hickory 
nuts, walnuts, hazel nuts, and the seeds of ash, maple, syca¬ 
more, or other desired trees. Plant such nuts or seeds in the 
spring and rear the seedlings. It is well to crack (not crush) the 
shells of acorns, walnuts, hickory nuts, etc., before planting, as 
they will germinate more readily. It may be quite possible to 
obtain saplings of trees from neighboring woods for planting on 
the school and the home grounds. All that is necessary, then, 
is to stimulate interest in the project. 

Transplanting trees .—Transplant deciduous saplings in the 
late fall or early spring; transplant evergreens in September or 
October. Remember that the root system below ground is 
about as large as the branches and twigs—the head of the 
tree—above ground. Move as many as possible of the roots, 
taking up a great ball of earth with them. Have the hole 
already dug to receive the tree; set the sapling in position 
and stamp the earth as it is shoveled in about the roots. 
If the transplanting is done in the spring the earth may be 
washed in around the roots, bucketfuls of water being thrown 
into the hole as the dirt is put in. In spite of care many 
roots are broken in transplanting, and it is well to cut off the 
twigs and branches, not only to make the tree more shapely, 
but to reduce the number of buds the roots must support the 
first year. The size of the head left should not exceed the mass 
of roots transplanted. 

Fruit trees.—The tree nursery may well contain seedlings of 
orchard trees. Cultivated stock seldom grows true from seed, 
so that when you plant a cherry pit or plum stone you will 
not get the same desirable variety of fruit that the seed came 
from. Seedlings of hardy sorts are reared to make a vigorous 
root system and then the desired fruit is grafted on to the 
stock. As a rule the stock tends to revert to hardy ancestral 
types when grown from seed. 


432 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Grafting .—Plant seeds of apples, cherries, peaches, plums, 
pears, and quinces and rear the seedlings. When the seedlings 
are two or three years old graft on the desired fruit as follows: 
In early spring, before the buds start, cut from a tree that bears 
the desired fruit two twigs about four inches long, each bearing 
a few buds. With a sharp knife trim the butt of each twig into 



Fig. 297. —The method of grafting: a, the stub ready to graft; b, splitting the 
stub (a jackknife may as well be used); c, the scion. It should be from a bearing 
branch on a fruitful tree and should have well-developed buds (like d ); never cut 
it from a sucker; taper it as shown in c; e, opening the cut to receive scions; /, 
scions in place; g, wax applied to juncture of stub of scions and tips of scions. If 
both scions grow break off one (Country Life in America, April, 1905). 


a thin wedge an inch and a half long. These are now the grafts. 
Keep these freshly cut surfaces moist while you prepare the scion.. 
Cut one of your saplings square off six inches above ground. 
Split the stump for a couple of inches, leaving the knife in the 
bottom of the cut to hold the halves apart. Set in the two twigs 
vertically, one on each side, so that the cambium layer on one 
side of each wedge is in contact with the cambium layer of the 
scion. Withdraw the knife so that the split closes and holds 






THE GARDEN 


433 


the grafts firmly. Immediately smear the area of operation 
with grafting wax or bind with bicycle tire tape so as to cover 
all cut surfaces and close all cracks (Fig. 297). 


Grafting wax .—It is made thus: Melt together in a kettle 
one part, by weight, of tallow, two of beeswax, and four of resin. 



Fig. 298.—A well-pruned young fruit tree and an old one that was not well 
trimmed when young. 


Pour the mixture into a bucket of cold water and work it with 
the hands (which have been greased), as you would knead bread 
dough, until it becomes the color of molasses candy. It will 
keep for years if made into a ball and put away in a cool cellar. 

Care after grafting .—Use two grafts to double the chances 
of success. After one is evidently well established cut off the 

















434 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


other, even if it, too, is growing. Apples and pears grafted upon 
quinces will give dwarf trees; wild crab apples may be used as 
scion stock for apples, wild cherry for cultivated cherry as an 
experiment, and cultivated plums do well grafted upon wild ones. 
After the graft is growing well it must be pruned, at first to make 
it grow tall and later to make the head low and open. Every 
year any dead branches must be cut out, and all branches should 
be cut back (Fig. 298). 

Distances for planting —Fruit trees frequently bear poorly 
because they are set too close together. The following list 
indicates, for the more common fruits, the distance in any 
direction from one tree to the next: apples 30 ft.; cherries 20 
ft.; peaches 20 ft.; pears 20 ft.; plums 16 ft.; quinces 10 ft. 
Distances for dwarf apples and pears are half that given above. 

The planting plan.—In planting both home grounds and 
school grounds it is well to work to a planting plan. Draw to 
scale a map or plan of the yard, locating buildings, walks, and 
any trees or shrubbery already in place. The area to be used 
for the school garden may be indicated on this. The working 
plan of this garden will best be drawn on a separate sheet to a 
large scale. 

The lawn .—The fundamental part of any scheme of beauti¬ 
fication is the lawn (Fig. 299). Cover the yard with well-rotted 
manure and have it plowed deeply. It should then be har¬ 
rowed and should later be hand-raked to make it fine. Lawn 
grass is usually a mixture of several varieties, for if a single sort 
be planted it is likely to mature and die down before the season 
is over. It is economy, in the long run, to buy the best of seed 
from a reliable dealer and to trust to his experience to provide a 
seed suited to a particular climate and type of soil. The seed 
is to be mixed with its own volume of dry sand and is to be sown 
broadcast on a windless day. A pound of seed sows about three 
square rods of ground. Surely the school board should provide 
the lawn. However, I have known pupils to spade the school 
yard and sod it piecemeal for three years when an indifferent 


THE GARDEN 


435 


board would do nothing, turning a barren yard into a very re¬ 
spectable lawn. 

Placing trees and shrubs .—In placing trees and shrubbery 
the aim should be: (i) to hide the basement walls, not so much 
because they are ugly as to make the home or school look more 
cozy, snuggled down in a nest of green; (2) to border lawns with 
clumps of shrubbery. Nothing is more effectually decorative 



Fig. 299—A well-kept lawn (from The Illinois Way of Beautifying the Farm) 


than a wide stretch of fine lawn. Do not break it up with flower 
beds, shrubs, or trees set out in the middle of it. Keep them 
back along the edges. They will appear to better advantage, as 
will also the lawn. Clumps of shrubs at the turns of roads and 
paths afford an apparent reason for the turn. Study the effects 
from the inside of the house. The views from the windows 
should be enhanced, not hindered, by trees and shrubs. Long 
vistas are desirable, and if these can be framed in drooping 
tree branches, so much the better. Consider the room and its 






OUR LIVING WORLD 


43^ 

furnishings a part of the picture. The flowers that nod on the 
shrubs outside the window should not shout at the window hang¬ 
ings or the wall paper. Colors should at least harmonize. The 
house color must also be considered. A crimson rambler grow¬ 
ing against a red brick house may lose its beauty, while a white 
Dorothy climbing rose will be set off exquisitely by its back¬ 
ground. 

Succession of bloom. —In planting both flower beds and beds 
of shrubbery one must consider time of bloom, so as to be sure of 
a succession of color. It is possible for one to plant together 
such shrubs as will all bloom simultaneously and produce a 
confusion of inharmonious blossoms. A little planning will 
suggest a group of shrubs that will come into bloom in succession, 
and so keep in the mass some points of color from early spring 
until late fall. 

Relative heights important. —Then, too, the varying heights 
of the mature shrubs must be considered, so that the tall ones 
may be planted in the center of the clump, the shorter ones put 
next, and the very low ones used as the border. Variations in 
shade of foliage should be kept in mind. By combining dark 
greens, light greens, variegated foliage, and autumnal tints one 
can have a shrub border that will be pleasing all the year round 
merely because of its shades of green. There is no reason why 
fruit trees, especially the dwarf sorts, should not be used on the 
lawn, both for ornamental effect and for fruit. Quince, cherry, 
and apple trees are all beautiful in blossom as well as when full 
of fruit. 

Attracting the birds. —It is worth while, in planting, to put 
in such shrubs as will bear fruit that the birds appreciate. A 
list of such shrubs is given in the chapter on “Birds.” The 
presence of the birds about the lawn or garden is worth cultivat¬ 
ing, just for the protection they give the garden from the 
depredations of insect pests. 

Hybridization projects. —One project that should certainly be 
undertaken in the upper grades is the hybridization of some of 


THE GARDEN 


437 


the common garden plants in order to make clear the principle 
involved. In modern agriculture much has been accomplished 
by the application of what little is known regarding the laws of 
inheritance. Our modern comprehension of these laws dates 
back only a generation, to the work of an Austrian monk, 
Johann Mendel. His work was done on garden peas; and these 
plants would make good material with which to repeat his 
experiments. Corn is also a good plant with which to experi¬ 
ment. 

MendeVs work .—Mendel was impressed with the need of a 
better understanding of this very fundamental matter of inherit¬ 
ance. After years of experimental study he published, in 1868, 
his conclusions in a rather obscure journal, the Proceedings of 
the BrtinnNatural History Society. It was not until 1900 that 
the importance of these studies was recognized, since which time 
his results have been known as “Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance.” 
He crossed two pea vines, one bearing peas which were green, the 
other a vine bearing yellow peas when mature. The method of 
procedure is as follows: 

The way to hybridize .—Just before the flower buds are about 
to open naturally, forcibly open several of them on both sorts of 
vines and remove the anthers. Inclose each blossom thus 
treated in a small paper bag to prevent pollen from reaching the 
stigma. When the blossoms open naturally, thereby showing 
that the stigmas are ready to receive the pollen, dust off with a 
small camel’s-hair brush some of the pollen from the anthers of a 
blossom on the vines grown from green peas, and transfer some 
of the pollen to the stigma of a blossom on the yellow-pea vine 
which has been previously relieved of its anthers, as directed 
above. Treat all the bagged yellow-pea blossoms in this manner. 
Fertilize the bagged blossoms on the vines bearing green peas 
with the pollen from the yellow sort. 

The hybrid peas .—After thus pollinating the peas keep the 
blossoms tied up in the bags. Let the pods form, and when they 
are mature pick them and keep the peas. All are found to be 


43 8 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


yellow, as yellow color in peas is dominant over green. These 
peas belong to the first hybrid generation, designated the F x 
generation. Plant these peas and let them self-pollinate. The 
plants grown from these are the second hybrid generation, or 
the F 2 generation. The peas they bear will be found to be 
approximately one-fourth green and three-fourths yellow. 

Dominant features .—Since the green character recedes tem¬ 
porarily from view, but reappears, it is known as the recessive 
character. Which of a pair of opposed characters will be 
dominant and which will be recessive can be told only by trial. 
When these green peas are planted and allowed to self-fertilize, 
the offspring are green, generation after generation. Of the 
yellow peas in the F 2 generation one-third produce only yel¬ 
low peas in successive generations, but two-thirds (i.e., one- 
half the F 2 generation) produce offspring one-fourth of which 
are pure green, one-fourth pure yellow, and one-half apparent 
yellow, but with the recessive character present though not 
showing. 

Law holds only for large numbers .—These results obtain only 
when large numbers of peas are grown. If one pea of the F x 
generation were planted and twenty peas of the F 2 generation 
were reared the proportion given above might not exactly hold. 
But if one thousand peas of the F x generation are sown and 
twenty thousand peas of the F 2 generation are harvested the law 
will be found to hold true with considerable exactness. Here are 
given the results Mendel obtained in the second generation in 
several pairs of opposed characters, in each of which the pro¬ 
portion of dominant to recessive is about three to one. 


NUMBER PRODUCED F 2 



Dominant 

Recessive 


Length of vine. 

787 tall 

6,022 yellow 
5,474 smooth 
705 colored 

277 dwarf 

2,001 green 

1,850 wrinkled 
244 white 

2.84:1 

3.01:1 

2.96:1 

315:1 

Color of seed. 

Form of seed. 

Color of flower. 















THE GARDEN 


439 


Results in schematic form .—Such results are shown schemati¬ 
cally as follows: Since peas are considered fundamentally green, 
and it requires the presence of some determining factor to change 
them to yellow, it is customary to designate the yellow factor 
therefore by Y, the absence of the yellow factor by y. A pure 
yellow-pea plant is written YY, a pure green by yy, the hybrid 
stock by Y(y); the latter will be yellow in appearance for the 
yellow factor (Y) is present. The results of the cross may be 
represented by the following diagram: 


YY—yy Parents 

Y(y) First generation 

I F. 

I [ I 

i YY | Y(y) i yy Second gen. F 2 

All YY { YY h Y(y) yy All yy Third gen. F 3 

All YY All YY | YY | Y(y) \ yy All yy All yy Fourth gen. F 4 


The foundation of the law .—The law follows necessarily from 
the fact that the germ cells of an F x generation pea may be of two 
sorts, those with and those without the factor that gives the 
yellow. There may be eggs with this factor and eggs without it. 
These two kinds of eggs may be fertilized by two classes of 
sperm. Recall the paragraphs on fertilization (p. 239). The 
results are indicated herewith: 


Sperm Y or y 

Eggs 

Y YY 

Yy 

or 

y Yy 

yy 


This gives the proportion 1 YY: 2 Yy: 1 yy. 

Experience needed— This would be quite meaningless to 
upper-grade pupils if learned from books, but if, in these grades, 
pupils grow peas in the school for the purpose of conducting the 
hybridizing experiments, under the direction of the teacher, they 









440 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


will work out much of it easily with concrete material. In two 
successive summers four generations of peas could be grown, and 
some of the more fundamental facts would be learned at first 
hand. 

As scientists have continued to work on this matter of 
heredity, they have found that it is not as simple as the foregoing 
statement of Mendel’s laws make it appear; in fact in many 
instances Mendel’s laws apparently fail to hold good. Still the 
experience in hybridizing the garden peas will impress pupils 
with the fact that heredity is no haphazard thing, but is an 
orderly phenomenon, and that the hereditary characters which 
any plant or animal manifests may be expected to reappear in 
successive generations even if they temporarily disappear. 

Basis of stock improvement.—It is the knowledge of the laws 
of heredity, imperfect as this knowledge is, that is at the basis 
of all of our intelligent attempts at stock improvement in both 
animal and plant breeding. Thus Burbank saw one very 
desirable quality in our native field daisy, namely, its great 
hardihood. It is a rank weed that in many places holds its own 
against severe competition, but it is of relatively small size 
and is a rather dirty white. The Japanese daisy is still smaller; 
but Burbank noted that it had a wonderful pearly luster. In 
England he learned of a species that was of large size, but tender. 
By hybridization, he succeeded in combining these three desirable 
characters in the new Shasta daisy, which has the size of its 
English ancestor, the luster of the Japanese daisy, and the 
hardihood of the American progenitor. It has been difficult to 
produce pure dominant stock, for if dominant is present in a 
single dose the daisy appears to possess the desired characters, 
but some of its offspring show recessive characters, the undesir¬ 
able traits. Not all Shasta daisy seed, therefore, is absolutely 
pure as yet. 

Hybrid grains — wheat .—By a similar process hybrid grains 
are being produced to meet new requirements. Thus a few years 
ago, when the great prairie regions of Western Canada (Manitoba 


THE GARDEN 


441 


and Alberta) were made accessible to settlers, it was found that 
the soil was eminently adapted to growing wheat. Some 
phenomenal crops were raised and farmers flocked to the new 
country to stake out claims; many thousands went from the 
Western United States, from Minnesota, and the Dakotas. It 
was soon discovered, however, that the heavy winds of the fall 
and the early frosts beat down or nipped the grain so that only 
in exceptional years could good crops be harvested. While 
many of the disappointed early settlers returned to the States, 
those remaining appealed to the scientific breeders of England 
for a winter wheat with very strong stem that would withstand 
the prevailing fall winds, and with the habit of maturing early. 
Some Siberian wheats were known that matured early;- other 
late-maturing sorts were known that had exceptionally strong 
stalks. With such stock the scientific breeders went to work, 
and in two years’ time seed with the desired combination of 
characters was on its way to the farmers of the Canadian North¬ 
west. This region is now one of the great wheat countries of the 
world, and the crop is reasonably secure. 

Corn hybrids .—Different types of corn are needed for different 
purposes: if cornstarch is wanted the kernel must have a large 
content of starch; if the corn is to be used to feed cattle for 
market it must have a high protein content; if it is to be used to 
fatten pigs it needs more oil; if it is to be served as a vegetable 
on our dinner tables it must contain much sugar. In the arid 
regions of the West a drought-resisting type must be used; in 
the North it must be a kind that will mature early. 

The desirable corn plant—A corn plant is desirable that has 
a strong stalk, sturdy enough to hold up and mature two big ears. 
The ear should have a cob that is not too thick and kernels that 
are long and of such a shape that they will fit together without 
much space between them, so that there will be a maximum 
weight of corn on an ear. If the kernels are short and the cob 
is thick, while the ear may be large, only a small proportion of it 
will be salable corn. Then, too, the kernels must grow all over 


442 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


the tip and well down on the butt of the ear. All the desired 
characters are hard to find in any one variety of corn, so that the 
breeder has been busy hybridizing and selecting in order to 
combine the best features in one breed. This is a slow process 
at best, for only pure dominants or pure recessives can be used 
as seed with any certainty of a crop of the same sort. The 
desired qualities are usually dominants, so that it takes several 
generations of trial and selection to get a pure dominant strain, 
as is evident from the discussion of Mendel’s law. By planting 



Fig. 300.—A well-cultivated corn patch 


alternate rows of two types of corn, each of which possesses some 
of the valuable characters, many intelligent farmers are securing 
improved crops even before seed that will breed true is available. 
This method insures likelihood of cross-pollination and a hybrid 
crop, with the production in the corn crop of most all of the 
desired characters. 

The seed plot .—Most alert farmers now maintain a small plot 
for growing seed. Whether it is corn, wheat, oats, or some other 
crop that is grown, the quality may be improved by hybridization 
and selection. Moreover, the problem is always a local one— 






THE GARDEN 


443 


the production of a type of plant that will be most productive 
on the soil of particular farms and under certain local conditions. 
This fact has been best realized and most successfully put into 
practice in Norway, where Nielson and his staff of able assistants 
at the Government Experiment Station have produced varied 
types of grain, notably oats and barley, each adapted to a dif¬ 
ferent valley with its peculiar soil and climate. Thus the grain 
production of the country has been very greatly increased. 

It is very interesting to know that boys and girls in our own 
country have been no mean factor in demonstrating what can be 
done to increase the production per acre by careful seed selection 
and intensive cultivation (Fig. 300). Jerry Moore’s record has 
already been noted (p. 393). That same year Hannah Plowden, 
seventeen years old, also of South Carolina, raised 120 bushels 
from her acre. These are but single instances of the hundreds 
of boys and girls, the country over, who have produced more 
than a hundred bushels per acre. In 1914, 334 boys, in fifteen 
southern states, achieved this record. Carl Graves, of Loso, 
Mississippi, raised 202 bushels in 1914. Delphine Moore, an 
Arkansas girl, raised 101 bushels to the acre at a cost of 12 cents 
per bushel. Earl Zeller, of Greene County, Iowa, in three 
successive years raised 403 bushels of corn on an acre at a cost 
of 9 cents per bushel, netting $440.80. John E. Devine, of 
South Hadley, Massachusetts, raised 117 bushels per acre; Hoyt 
Quimby, of Harlakender, Vermont, obtained 124 bushels; 
Robert Mack, of New Jersey, 103 bushels. R. Ethan Allen, of 
Morgantown, West Virginia, raised 680 bushels of corn on five 
acres, selling 245 bushels of it as seed for over $700.00. All 
these are the achievements of boys and girls in corn raising. 

There have been similar accomplishments by other boys and 
girls with other crops. Ralph and Merle Hyer, in Utah, raised 
840 and 797 bushels of potatoes to the acre. Howard Dalton 
in the same state raised 720 bushels. The average for the 
country in the best potato year that has occurred was 113.4 
bushels. Katie Gunter, of Samaria, South Carolina, in 1911 



Fig. 301 —A Howard County (Maryland) pig-club boy and his pig (photo¬ 
graph from Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.). 













THE GARDEN 


445 


grew and put up 512 cans of tomatoes at a cost of 4 cents per 
can, and was champion for that year. Her net profit was 





Fig. 302—The 1916 Georgia pig^club champion and his pig raised on garbage 
and setting the pace for economy of production (photograph from the Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.). 








OUR LIVING WORLD 


446 

$78.37. Then in successive years came Fay Parker, of Arkansas, 
Clyde Sullivan, of Ousley, Georgia, who raised and canned 5,354 
pounds of tomatoes from a tenth of an acre, and Hester Sartain, 
of Walker County, Alabama, with 7,037 pounds of tomatoes 
as her crop and a profit of $146.20. The same year Winifred 
Goff, of Ritchie County, West Virginia, produced 7,462 pounds 
on her tenth of an acre, though her net profit was not so great 
as Miss Sartain’s. Miss Lottie Luckett, of Kentucky, holds the 



Fig. 303. —Clifford Duncan and his prize calf, calf-club contest, Oklahoma 
City (Oklahoma) Fat Stock Show, March, 1917 (photograph from Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.). 


record for profit from a tenth of an acre of tomatoes, her profit 
being $204.77. Helen Durham, of Bountiful, Utah, holds the 
record for variety in canning, having put up in one season 95 
sorts of fruits, vegetables, and meats. All of this work is under' 
the guidance of the Departments of Education and of Agriculture 
of the United States. It is not the aim of the work merely to 
teach boys and girls how to produce more corn and more 
tomatoes. It is the belief of those who are guiding it all that 
there is large educative value in such a project—in growing a 
bumper crop or fattening a lot of pigs. To comprehend the 





THE GARDEN 


447 


instructions Uncle Sam sends out, to fit them to local conditions, 
to meet successfully the many difficulties that are bound to arise, 
to profit by mistakes, and to carry a project through to the end— 
to do this is to gain much of an education. It is an educative 
scheme, and over a quarter of a million boys and girls are enrolled 
in the various clubs now, the work of which is being rapidly 
graded and thoroughly systematized. Such projects under the 
guidance of the government experts may be made a part of the 
school garden work in any community, and will surely prove 
stimulating. These projects in the garden have led to others in 
raising pigs and beef animals, for the boys and girls have found 
that it is often more profitable to feed corn to hogs and sell them 
than to sell the corn itself. Thus have come into existence the 
boys’ and girls’ prize pig and beef clubs (Figs. 301, 302, 303). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 

Bardswell, F. A. The Book of Town and Window Gardening. New York: 
John Lane & Co. $1.00. 

Barnes, P. T. Suburban Garden Guide. New York: The Macmillan Co. 
$0.50. 

Beal, W. J. Seed Disposal. Boston: Ginn & Co. $0.40. 

Davis, K. C. School and Home Gardening. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott 
Co. $1.75. 

Duncan, Frances* Mary's Garden and How It Grew. New York: The 
Century Co. $1.25. 

-. When Mother Lets Us Garden. New York: Moffat, Yard & Co. 

$0.75. 

Emerson and Weed. School Garden Book. New York: Charles Scribner 
and Sons. $1.25. 

Green, Maria L. Among School Gardens. New York: Charities Publish¬ 
ing Committee, Russell Sage Foundation. $1 25. 

Lounsberry, Alice. The Garden Book for Young People. New \ork: 
F. A. Stokes Co. $1.50. 

Meier, W. H. D. School and Home Gardens. Boston: Ginn & Co. $0 80 

1 Farmers’ bulletins are issued by the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, D.C. 



OUR LIVING WORLD 


448 

Miller, Louise K. Children's Gardens. New York: Appleton & Co- 
$1 • 25. 

Shaw, Ellen Eddy. Gardening and Farming. New York: Doubleday, 
Page & Co. $1.00. 

Skinner, C. M. Little Gardens , or How to Beautify City Yards and Small 
Country Spaces. New York: D. Appleton & Co. $1.25. 

United States School Garden Army Leaflets. Bureau of Education, 
Washington D.C. Send for list. 

Verrill, A. H. Harper's Book for Young Gardeners. New York: Harper 
Bros. $1.50. 

Villiams, Dora. Gardens and Their Meaning. Boston: Ginn & Co. 
$1.00. 

Farmers’ Bulletins: 

No. 94, The Vegetable Garden. 

No. 154, The Home Fruit Garden , Preparation and Care 
No. 184, Beautifying the Home Grounds. 

No. 195, Annual Flowering Plants. 

No. 196, Usefulness of the American Toad. 

No. 216, The School Garden. 

No. 248, The Lawn. 

No. 255, Home Vegetable Garden. 

No. 647, Home Garden in the South. 

No. 818, The Small Vegetable Garden. 

No. 936, The City and Suburban Vegetable Garden. 

No. 937, The Farm Garden in the North. 

Experiment Station Bulletins. 

No. 160, School Gardens. 

No. 252, Some Types of Children's Garden Work. 

Bureau of Education, School Home Garden Circulars: 

Bulletin No. 28, 1912. Cultivating the School Grounds in Wake County , 
North Carolina. 

Bulletin No. 31, 1913. School and Home Gardening for Use in the 
Primary Grades. 

Bulletin No. 40, 1916. Gardening in Elementary City Schools. 

Bulletin No. 6, 1917. Educative and Economic Possibilities of School 
Directed Home Gardening in Richmond , Indiana. 

Bulletin No. 26, 1918. Garden Clubs in the Schools of Englewood , New 
Jersey. 

Samples of What States Supply: 

Bulletin No. 1, 1905. School Gardens for California Schools. State 
Normal, Chico, California. 


THE GARDEN 


449 


Circular No. 170, Agricultural Experiment Station, Urbana, Illinois. 
The Illinois Way of Beautifying the Farm. 

Circular No. 176, Practical Help on Landscape Gardening. 

Circular No. 184, The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening. 

Circular No. 215, The War Garden Hothed. 

Circular 80, Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station, 
La Fayette, Indiana. Home Gardens. 

Bulletin No. 9, Board of Education, Boston, Massachusetts. Project 
Study Outlines for Vegetable Growing. 

Leaflet No. 4, 1915. New Jersey Department of Public Instruction 
(Trenton). Vegetable Gardening. 

College Bulletin No. 176. Oregon Agricultural College (Corvallis). 
School and Home Gardening for Elementary Schools in Oregon. 

Hampton Leaflets, Vol. VIII, No. 1. Hampton Normal and Agri¬ 
cultural Institute, Hampton, Virginia. Home Decoration. 

Alger, Edith Goodyear. Vermont Department of Education (Mont¬ 
pelier), Circular No. XIII, 1902. School Gardens. 

Writ to 

Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Canada, for instruction sheets. 

Schoo Garden Association of America, 4852 Broadway, New York, 
for publications. 

Children’s Flower Mission, Cleveland, Ohio, for penny packets of seeds. 

Home Gardening Association, Cleveland, Ohio, for report. 

The National Cash Register Company, Dayton, Ohio, for The Boy 
Gardeners 

The International Harvester Company, Chicago, Illinois, for Grow a 
Garden and other circulars. 


CHAPTER X 
SPORE-BEARERS 

A typical spore-bearer—the puffball.—There is a group of 
plants that does not reproduce by seeds. While the seed-bearing 
plants are the ones that are most familiar to us, the spore¬ 
bearing plants are quite as important in our lives and they make 
a far more numerous group. Probably the most familiar spore- 
bearer with which the average child is acquainted is the common 
puffball, that brownish sphere found growing in the meadows, or 
perhaps on an old stump, from which the child squeezes succes¬ 
sive puffs of “smoke.” Many children regard these as rotten 
potatoes, and have, moreover,. the frightsome delusion that if 
the u smoke ” gets into their eyes it will make them blind. Many 
a small boy has run in terror from a larger companion who 
possessed one of these terrifying objects and made threats to use 
it on the youngster. As a matter of fact the “smoke” is quite 
harmless, consisting merely of countless little particles, really 
hard-walled cells, each of which is a spore. These spores, 
alighting on moist ground where conditions are favorable, will 
proceed to grow and form new plants (Fig. 304). 

Spore cases of fern .—Many children, too, are familiar with 
the spore cases that are to be found on the backs of fern leaves 
(Fig. 305). They frequently grow in clusters, which form 
brownish dots on the back of the leaf. The spores discharged 
from these are about as tiny as those from the puffball, and 
usually escape detection unless the fern leaves are laid, spore¬ 
bearing surface down, on a sheet of white paper. Then when 
the spores fall they may be seen as fine dust on the paper. 

The entire fungus .—The puffball, as we collect it, is not all 
of the plant; in fact it is only a small portion of it, somewhat as 
a seed pod is only a small portion of a seed-bearing plant. The 


450 


SPORE-BEARERS 


451 


bulk of the plant is growing somewhere in the ground and the 
puffball is only that part of the plant which comes to the surface 
to bear the spores. 

The puffball is one of a great group of plants known as fungi. 
They often grow in decomposing material, like a rotting log, a 
manure heap, dead leaves, etc. Probably every child, in his 
experience, has encountered the body of the fungus. If you rip 
the bark off a decomposing log you will often see white, cottony 



Fig. 304.—A protected puffball Geaster on the sand 


masses of interlaced delicate threads, which frequently can be 
traced into the tissue of the rotting log. Sometimes similar 
cobwebby material is found in the rotting leaves in the spring, 
or is observed in the manure heap as it is forked over. This is 
the true mass of the fungus plant, the mycelium, as it is called. 
Each of the delicate threads that together make up the mycelium 
is known as a hypha. 

The germinating spore .—When the spores of the puffball, for 
instance, drifting on the air currents, alight on some spot of 
ground beneath the surface of which there is some decaying 



OUR LIVING WORLD 


4 $* 

material upon which the fungus can feed, the spores germinate 
and each grows into one of these hyphal threads. The mycelium 
is probably the result of the germination of many spores. In 
due course of time this colorless mycelium, feeding on the decay¬ 
ing material, sends up some of these hyphae toward the surface 
of the ground. Joining together, they 
grow into a tiny puffball, which at first 
appears as only a little white button, 
but grows larger as the hyphae become 
more numerous and more extended. 
Finally the inside of the puffball pro¬ 
duces the multitudinous spores, and 
when the outer rind of the puffball 
breaks, these spores are gradually dis¬ 
charged. The mycelium found growing 
in the manure heap may be that of an¬ 
other common fungus, called the inkpot. 
That found in the old log is perhaps the 
mycelium of the bracket fungus. The 
spores of all these forms, of course, must 
find situations similar to the habitat of 
the original plant in order that they 
may grow. 

Molds.—Perhaps the most familiar 
of the fungi about the house are the 
molds and mildews that persist in grow¬ 
ing in our preserves, that form mildewy 
masses on the decaying apples, or in 
moist climates even invade our clothes 
closets and grow on our boots and shoes. Some interesting ex¬ 
periments may be made with these molds that will teach us much 
about the nature of the fungi. Put a spoonful of some trans¬ 
parent jelly, like crab apple, on a little plate and let this stand 
uncovered for a day on the table at home or on your desk in the 
schoolroom. Then cover it with a tumbler. Pretty soon on the 





SPORE-BEARERS 


453 


surface of the jelly a growth of cottony mold will begin to show. 
The advantage of using the transparent jelly is that you can see 
that not only is the mold growing on the surface, but very fine 
hyphae are growing down into the jelly. This mold is a colorless 
plant. It does not possess the chlorophyll which we know is so 
essential in the manufacture of plant foods for the ordinary green 
plant. It must therefore obtain its food ready-made, and these 



Fig. 306.—A black mold 


hyphal threads are penetrating the jelly for the purpose of 
absorbing nutrition They are the feeding hyphae. 

Spore-bearing hyphae .—Before very long some of the hyphae 
that are growing into the air will develop little spore cases at 
their ends (Fig 306). One of the commonest molds about the 
house, the Mucor, grows little black spore cases on the ends of 
the spore-bearing hyphae so that the white mold comes to be 
covered with tiny black dots, as if it had been dusted with pepper. 
It is always difficult to see the spores unless a microscope is 







OUR LIVING WORLD 


454 

available. Then if some of the hyphae bearing the spore cases 
are put into a drop of water on a piece of glass and the drop is 
examined under the low power of the microscope, the spores will 
be seen as tiny rounded cells. We may examine the plant dry, 
but in that case the majority of the spores will blow off before 
we can get them under the microscope. 

Molds in light— Instead of the jelly use pieces of bread. 
Moisten the bread—do not saturate it—and then put it into pint 
fruit jars. Screw the covers on the jars and place some of the 
jars on the window sill in the sunlight, others on the table where 
they are in ordinary light, and place still others in the dark corner 
or even in a drawer or cupboard. In due course of time molds 
will develop on the bread. It is interesting to note whether the 
exposure to the light makes any difference in the time of appear¬ 
ance of the mold or in its rate of growth. In all probability 
several different kinds of mold will develop, for the bread in the 
several jars has come from different localities, and very likely the 
spores which it contains will not all be the same. A very common 
mold is the green mold ( Pencillium ), the spores of which occur in 
clusters on the ends of the branches rather than in spore cases and 
are green. 

Bacteria.—In addition to the cottony masses of mold, slimy 
masses of varying color will probably be found, some light and 
transparent like jelly, others red and yellow. These are probably 
colonies of bacteria. The bacteria also are fungi and will be 
considered later. 

Making the soil for growing molds.—We may readily make 
our own garden or culture media for growing these samples of 
mold and of bacteria. This is very simply done by melting 
up, according to directions, some of the gelatin prepared for 
puddings. Orange or grape gelatins are very satisfactory. If 
these are not available we may make up a prune gelatin as 
follows: Take two ounces of the gelatin that you buy at any 
grocery store and add to it about half its own volume of water. 
Let it soak for an hour or more. In another dish put to soak a 


SPORE-BEARERS 


455 


dozen prunes, just covering them with water. After they have 
soaked for a few hours, gently boil them. Pour off the clear 
liquid, or if it is not clear pass it through a piece of cloth and add 
the gelatin The gelatin and the liquid from the prunes should 
make nearly a pint. If it does not, add hot water to make about 
four-fifths of a pint. Now heat the gelatin and prune juice 
in a double boiler until the gelatin has all dissolved. If a 
double boiler is not at hand, set a pan that will hold a pint or 
more in another larger pan that contains hot water and place on 
the stove. The small pan should be kept off the bottom of the 
large pan by setting it on any convenient object, such as a piece 
of wire or the handles of two or three spoons. After the gelatin 
has dissolved, the water in the large pan must be kept boiling 
for about half an hour and the small pan must be kept covered. 
The results are sure to be satisfactory if, instead of using the 
small pan, one can use a thin-walled flask, such as can readily be 
obtained from the high-school chemical laboratory. The mouth 
of the flask should be kept loosely plugged with absorbent cotton 
while the boiling is going on. When once the gelatin has been 
sterilized by boiling it must be kept covered from the air or 
again sterilized before it is used. 

Preparing the spore beds .—This makes up a stock solution 
of gelatin. The most convenient culture tubes are ordinary test 
tubes. The little homeopathic bottles that can be purchased at 
a drug-store may also be used. Wash these clean in hot water, 
then pour the gelatin preparation in, filling each bottle or test 
tube one-fourth full. Plug the mouth of the bottle or test tube 
with a wad of absorbent cotton and lay it down with the mouth 
end raised half an inch or an inch from the table, so that as the 
gelatin cools it will form a solid mass with large slanting surface. 
When the gelatin has set, these may be used in place of the 
transparent jelly or the bread in the experiment suggested above. 

Sterilization by dry heat—We may readily perform an 
experiment that will demonstrate what is meant by sterilization. 
We have found that an abundance of mold grows on the bread in 


456 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


our pint fruit jars. Cut some slices of bread that are a half-inch 
thick into little strips and fit them into the test tubes or small 
bottles. Plug the mouth of the test tubes or bottles with 
absorbent cotton and put these into an oven. Keep the oven at 
a temperature that will make an ordinary sheet of white paper 
yellow in half a minute. Leave the bottles containing the bread 
in this temperature for a half-hour; then let them cool off gradu¬ 
ally in the oven, or, if you are using test tubes, they may be 
taken from the oven immediately at the end of the half-hour. 
Next moisten the bread with boiled water, putting the water 
on with a medicine dropper that has also been boiled for ten 
minutes. Expose the bread to the air just as little as possible 
when putting on the water. Let this bread in the test tubes or 
bottles stand in the room for several days. Probably molds will 
not appear in most of the bottles. 

Steam sterilization .—Molds should not appear in the tubes 
of jelly which we have prepared above, but sometimes it is 
necessary to sterilize the jelly in the tubes a second time before 
we kill all of the spores that are present. We may do this in 
another way which will illustrate a second method, sterilization 
by the use of steam. Take two pails, like lard pails, one of which 
will slip only two-thirds of the way into the other. Punch 
several holes in the bottom of the upper pail and two or three in 
its cover. Put two inches of water in the lower pail and set the 
upper pail in it. Stand the vials or low jelly tumblers containing 
the gelatin in this upper pail and cover it. Put the apparatus 
on the stove and bring the water to a boil. Steam will pass 
through the upper pail, and after the gelatin has melted, twenty 
minutes of such steaming will serve to sterilize it. 

Spores survive heat .—That more than one such exposure is 
necessary for complete sterilization is well known to the house¬ 
keeper who preserves her fruit by the process of sterilization. 
Fruit cans are thoroughly cleansed and rinsed out with boiling 
water. The fruit in its syrup is thoroughly heated for a con¬ 
siderable time, and then it is put with the syrup into the can and 


SPORE-BEARERS 


457 


sealed. The housewife does not put this away at once, however, 
but stands it on a table in her fruit cellar and after a few days 
inspects it. If any of the cans show signs of fermentation by 
leaking somewhat, the cans are put into a double boiler and 
steamed for an hour or so to again raise their content to the 
temperature of boiling water. While the molds or living bacteria 
are killed at the temperature of boiling water, their spores are 
frequently much more resistant. These, however, promptly 
germinate in warm solutions, and the second boiling will kill 
such germinated spores. We may be practically certain that 
three heatings to the boiling-point on successive days will com¬ 
plete sterilization in all substances. 

The yeast.—One of the tiny fungi that is of large commercial 
importance is the yeast plant. Like many tiny organisms, it 
may retain its vitality after fairly complete drying, and all that 
is necessary to start up its usual activities is to give it sufficient 
water, when the cells absorb the moisture and resume their 
growth and multiplication. Often the yeast is bought as com¬ 
pressed yeast, in which the plants are massed together with more 
or less of the starch in which they were grown and with the water 
partly removed by pressure. 

Growing yeast. —Dissolve a tablespoonful of ordinary sugar 
in a half-tumbler of water. Rub up in a little water a piece of 
yeast as big as a pea and add it to the solution. Let this stand, 
covered, at room temperature. The sugar is absorbed by the 
yeast plants and is partially used in their growth. Alcohol is 
formed in this process, and after the yeast has worked for some 
time the odor of alcohol is quite apparent. The sugar solution 
will be frothy with bubbles of carbon dioxide. Put some of such 
sugar solution and yeast into a wide-mouthed bottle. Pass a 
delivery tube of bent glass tubing through the cork and stick 
the other end into a test tube half full of limewater. As the 
yeast plants grow, the gas formed will be passed into the lime- 
water. What is the reaction that demonstrates that this gas 
is carbon dioxide? When the yeast “works” for several days, 


458 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


alcohol changes to acid and the solution sours. You can tell 
this also by the odor. 

Yeast for bread making .—When yeast is used to make bread 
rise it uses as food the starch which the flour contains. The 
mixture of flour and water is sticky, so that the carbon-dioxide 
gas cannot readily escape. In its effort to do so the bubbles 
of gas permeate the dough and make it rise. When the bread is 
kneaded the bubbles of gas are subdivided and resubdivided and 
so distributed throughout the mass as to make the bread uni¬ 
formly light. If the bread is not well kneaded 
it is likely to be soggy in spots and unduly 
porous elsewhere. 

Appearance of yeast plant .—If a micro¬ 
scope is available, a drop of the sugar solution 
taken from time to time out of the tumbler in 
which the yeast is working may be examined. 
The yeast plants are seen as tiny egg-shaped 
objects, or as chains of such (see Fig. 307). 
Each plant is a cell, a tiny mass of living 
protoplasm surrounded, in this plant, by a 
cell wall. The denser nucleus may be seen if 
a little stain, such as neutral red, is added 
to the drop. If a single good-sized plant is kept under the 
microscope for some time it will be seen to produce a small 
projecting knob or bud which grows and becomes like the parent. 
This may in turn bud, and thus the chains of plants arise. 

Beer yeast .—The yeasts used in the production of beer and 
other fermented liquors are different ones from that used to raise 
bread. There are several wild species of yeasts that are found 
in various fermenting substances out of doors. Chopped 
carrots left standing in water usually ferment sufficiently inside 
of forty-eight hours to give a distinct odor of alcohol. 

Bacteria.—There follows, however, the growth of another 
sort of tiny plants in the carrots—a sort which work so rapidly 
and multiply so fast that before long the yeast fermentation is 



Fig. 307. — Yeast 
plant seen under the 
microscope. 



SPORE-BEARERS 


459 


obscured by the decomposition due to the action of these other 
plants. These are bacteria. They are much smaller than 
yeast plants. Indeed, ten thousand of the bacteria that cause 
pneumonia might be spread in a layer one bacterium thick on the 
cross-section of a hair. Individually they are too small to be 
seen, but the colonies that appear in a culture can be seen, as 
has been noted above on the bread used for growing the mold. 
It does not take very long for a colony to form from a single 
bacterium. These tiny fungi reproduce usually by division; 
that is, one simply separates into two parts, each of which 
speedily becomes an adult bacterium like the parent form. So, 
in culture media, spots appear that are masses of bacteria which 
are all alike. It has been estimated that a single bacterium 
growing under favorable conditions would, if none of its offspring 
died, produce a mass of bacteria as large as the earth in the course 
of a single week. Fortunately many die because conditions do 
not remain favorable, or they are used as food by some of the 
larger organisms. 

Cultures of bacteria .—The same gelatin preparation sug¬ 
gested above for the growth of molds may be used for bacterial 
cultures. This may be put into sterile test tubes or wide¬ 
mouthed bottles, low jelly dishes with covers (Fig. 308), or any 
convenient sterile receptacles that can be covered, or plugged 
with absorbent cotton. Lay the test tubes or vials on a table 
with the mouth raised a little when the gelatin is cooling, so that 
it will harden with a slanting surface. For very careful work the 
gelatin should be sterilized by two or three heatings for twenty 
minutes in the steam sterilizer and then cooled. But for our 
purposes, if all dishes used in the preparation and if the recep¬ 
tacles also have been sterilized, the gelatin as prepared will be 
sufficiently free from living bacteria. 

The house fly carries bacteria .—Catch a house fly, put him 
in one of the dishes or test tubes (slant tubes), let him crawl over 
the gelatin, and then let him out. Keep the dish or tube at 
room temperature. In two days his footsteps will be indicated 


460 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


by patches of bacteria growing wherever he stepped. The fly’s 
foot is admirably adapted, as are other parts of his body, for 
carrying bacteria. These parts are hairy, and the bacteria 
readily stick to these hairs. Moreover, the fly often feeds and 
always breeds in decomposing organic material, such as manure 
heaps, where bacteria are abundant. When they come to our 
kitchens or dining-rooms, where food is being prepared or served, 



Fig. 308.—Bacterial colonies on gelatin in petri dish 


they not infrequently wipe their filthy feet on the articles of 
food we are about to eat. 

Bacteria in air .—Open one of the jelly glasses in the school¬ 
room near the close of the session and set it where the dust may 
settle into it. Cover it again and examine a few days later. At 
the same time that this dish (or tube) is exposed, expose one for 
the same length of time out of doors. Compare the two at the 
end of two or three days. Which has the larger number of 
bacterial colonies growing on it? Each colony represents a 
bacterium that settled on the gelatin and began multiplying. 




SPORE-BEARERS 


461 


Other sources of bacteria .—Let a child whose hands are dirty 
touch the gelatin in one of the glasses with his fingers. Then 
have him wash his hands and after they are dry let him touch the 
gelatin in another jelly tumbler. Let the two tumblers stand 
side by side for a few days and compare results. Let some child 
with a cold breathe on the gelatin in one of the dishes. Have 
some child free from cold breathe on the gelatin of another dish. 
Let these glasses stand side by side for comparison. You may 
swab the teeth of a child with a wad of absorbent cotton on the 
end of a stick and wipe this on the gelatin. If you compare in 
this way a child who habitually cleans his teeth with one who 
“forgot’’ it, the results in the two dishes or tubes will likely prove 
interesting. 

Bacteria in dust .—Scrape some of the dust from window 
sills, unused desks, tops of doors, or other undisturbed places 
about the room into a sterilized test tube and shake it up witn 
water. Pour half of it into another sterilized test tube. With 
a sterilized pipette put three or four drops of water from the first 
test tube on some gelatin and cover the gelatin dish or tube at 
once. Put a drop of glycothymoline, euthymol, creolin, or other 
good disinfectant into the second sterilized test tube. Shake it 
well and let it stand three minutes. Then put three or four drops 
from this tube upon the gelatin in another tube, using a second 
sterilized pipette for the purpose. This should demonstrate 
not only that there are numerous bacteria in the dust of the 
schoolroom but that these are killed readily by simple disin¬ 
fectants. The schoolroom should be swept up daily, after some 
disinfectant has been sprinkled on the floor. Many schools 
supply the janitor with a sweeping powder to be scattered before 
sweeping. This powder is itself a disinfectant. Sawdust soaked 
in water, to each gallon of which four tablespoonfuls of creolin 
have been added, may be used. 

Sanitary school furniture .—It would be very much worth 
while to keep some cloths in a five-gallon crock of the same 
solution, and to have all desks, window sills, blackboard ledges, 


462 


OUR LTV TNG WORLD 


globes, in fact all furniture, wiped off daily with this sterilizing 
substance. If janitor service cannot be obtained for this 
purpose, the children themselves will gladly do the work in the 
interest of their own health. Two pupils could be assigned the 
task for one week who would come each morning ten or fifteen 
minutes before school to act as sanitary officers. In schools 
where such service has been instituted the number of cases of 
contagious disease has been greatly reduced, and the average 
attendance has been raised nearly to the 100 per cent mark. 
Moreover, the custom has spread from the school to the home, 
where dusting is displaced by wiping furniture and floors with a 
cloth moistened in some disinfectant. 

Man’s conquest of disease.—In connection with this work 
on the bacteria pupils of the upper grades should come to know 
something of the history of man’s conquest of those terrible germ 
diseases that have always been the world’s scourges. No better 
opportunity than this will come for bringing them in contact 
with high courage and inspiring devotion. It is a fine chance to 
inculcate some moral ideals by learning of the noble men who 
have given themselves to the task of conquering disease. The 
enthusiasm of these men is contagious, even at long range, and 
it is a splendid thing to know of them. The best method of 
procedure is to ask some of the older children to look up the data 
in the bibliography suggested and to report to the school. 

Koch and Pasteur .—The discovery that many diseases are 
caused by bacteria is well within the memory of men now living. 
The credit for the early demonstrations belongs to Robert Koch 
and Louis Pasteur. Not only did they show that certain diseases 
of animals and man are to be traced to the activity of these tiny 
organisms working in our bodies, but they showed, after long and 
arduous labor, how the effects of the disease-producing bacteria 
might be counteracted. Since their time many more diseases 
have been traced to specific bacteria. Bacteria are divided, 
according to their form, into the round, or coccus, forms, like 
the coccus that causes pneumonia (pneumococcus); the rod- 


SPORE-BEARERS 


463 


shaped ones, or bacilli, like the bacillus of tuberculosis; and the 
corkscrew-shaped ones, or the spirillum forms, like the spirillum 
of Asiatic cholera. There are other shapes, too, but these are 
some of the most distinctive sorts. 

Pasteur’s work.—Pasteur was the first to demonstrate that 
fermentation, such as we have seen occurring when yeast works, 
is due to living things. He had to make his experimental proof 
very convincing, for some of the greatest scientists of his day— 
the older men like Helmholtz and Liebig—did not believe in 
Pasteur’s notion of the cause of fermentation. Then he under¬ 
took to find out why wines sometimes spoil in aging. He found 
that there were tiny organisms (really bacteria) that worked in 
the wine and produced disagreeable-tasting products. He 
discovered that this could be prevented if the wine were heated 
and kept hot for a long enough time to kill these organisms. 
This did not take so very long—some twenty minutes. The 
temperature did not have to be as high as the boiling-point, but 
only 1 7 o°F. This treatment has since been found to kill many 
dangerous bacteria. Thus if milk be so heated all tubercle 
bacilli, typhoid germs, and the germs that cause dysentery are 
killed. The process is known as pasteurization. 

Silkworm disease. —Next, Pasteur solved the mystery of the 
silkworm diseases that were annually causing immense losses to 
France. This was a very difficult task and required more than 
three years of constant observation and experiment, with the 
assistance of able men. When finally he announced his discovery 
of the cause and the methods of prevention, his claims met with 
severe criticism. Pasteur worked hard to maintain his ground. 
He had always been a hard worker. First of all the staff to 
arrive at the laboratory in the morning—which, by the way, was 
only a few steps from his home, so that he might not lose valuable 
time in coming and going—he worked steadily all day, making 
observations, taking notes, performing experiments. He allowed 
meager time for meals. At night he usually worked until late, 
writing many letters and preparing his scientific papers. It was 


464 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


in the midst of his efforts to prove conclusively to the world the 
accuracy of his discovery that he was stricken with paralysis, 
and friends despaired of his life. He finally partially recovered, 
but he never walked without discomfort afterward, and his hands 
were so crippled that he had to give over to his assistants the 
execution of the experiments that he planned. Yet even after 
this he made his most wonderful discoveries and continued to 
work with unabated enthusiasm for twenty-five years. 

Anthrax .—Another source of loss to France was anthrax, a 
disease so deadly to sheep and cattle that it killed off about 
10 per cent of all the sheep and 5 per cent of all the cattle each 
year. Davaine had discovered the threadlike bacilli in the blood 
of animals dying from the disease. Robert Koch, the famous 
German bacteriologist, then a rising tutor, had made cultures 
of them. Klebs had shown that when a well-fed animal was 
inoculated with the culture, it came down with the disease. 
Pasteur reared generation after generation of the organisms and 
showed that the disease was produced in an animal quite as 
readily by the bacilli reared outside of the body in artificial 
culture media as by those from the blood of an animal suffering 
from the disease. 

Pasteur discovered vaccines .—Then came an epoch-making 
discovery, the discovery of vaccines. Pasteur found that cul¬ 
tures of anthrax kept growing at relatively high temperatures 
produced less and less virulent bacteria, and that if an animal 
were injected with these less virulent forms and then were 
gradually accustomed to more virulent ones, it would suffer no 
evil effects when exposed to the most virulent ones. Thus 
healthy animals could be rendered immune to the dread disease. 

Rabies. —Finally—to omit many important discoveries— 
came the application of all his accumulated wisdom to the cure 
of some human disease. As a promising one to work at he 
chose hydrophobia, or rabies. This task he began in 1880, being 
then a man of fifty-eight. It was not until 1885 that he com 
sidered his experiments sufficiently successful .and the results so 


SPORE-BEARERS 


465 


certain that he was ready to undertake his first human patient, 
Joseph Meister, an Alsatian lad. Imagine with what intense 
interest Pasteur watched the successive inoculations of the 
cultures of stronger and stronger germs. His assistant tells us 
that as the limit of time approached when the patient, some 
thirty days after being bitten, usually manifested symptoms of 
madness, Pasteur could hardly sleep for anxiety. But this boy 
remained healthy and was the first of thousands of patients who 
have escaped the awful consequences of the mad dog’s bite 
through Pasteur’s discovery. 

Fighting disease germs in America.—Americans have aided 
greatly in this fight of mankind against disease, and we may well 
be proud of the record. For years the South, particularly, has 
been subject to periodic attacks of yellow fever. In 1853, for 
instance, New Orleans was invaded by the fever, and eight 
thousand people died. Sixty years earlier the disease reached 
as far north as Philadelphia and Boston. The former city lost 
10 per cent of its entire population. Havana, Cuba, has always 
been a stronghold of the disease, and has been the center from 
which it spread to our own coasts through Spanish and negro 
immigrants and refugees. So, when the Spanish War brought 
us the responsibility of Cuba, one of our first tasks was to make 
it a safe country in which to live by routing this dread disease, as 
well as the malaria, a disease which, while not so fatal, produces 
more illness that detracts from man’s efficiency and pleasure. 
Laveran, one of Pasteur’s pupils, had discovered the microbe 
that causes malaria; an Englishman, Sir Ronald Ross, then 
Major Ross, had proved that certain mosquitoes carry the germ 
and act as an intermediate host to it. 

Yellow fever. —Dr. Carlos Finlay, a Spanish physician, had 
suggested that, similarly, a mosquito was responsible for the 
spread of yellow fever, but it remained for Americans to prove it. 
Dr. Walter Reed, of the United States Army, was assigned to 
the presidency of a board for studying preventive sanitary 
measures in Cuba. Drs. James Carroll, Jesse W. Lazear, and 


466 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


A. Agramonte were associated with him. This board began its 
work in 1900. At that time it was thought that the fever was 
spread through contact with the discharges from the sufferer’s 
body. Volunteers from the army lived in rooms and slept on 
the filthy beds where yellow-fever victims had died—after the 
precaution had been taken to kill all the mosquitoes and to put 
in screen doors and windows so that no more of the insects could 
get in. But these men did not take the fever. They took 
great risks, however, for none knew positively that the mosquito 
was the cause. Volunteers were then called for who would let 
themselves be bitten by mosquitoes that had already bitten 
patients in the yellow-fever wards of the hospital. The doctors 
themselves insisted on taking part in this test, and both Drs. 
Carroll and Lazear came down with the disease, as did nearly 
every soldier. These men lived in houses screened from mos¬ 
quitoes, and so only those mosquitoes caught in the fever wards 
bit them. Other men living in similar screened houses, but not 
bitten by mosquitoes from the fever wards, did not get the 
disease. Dr. Lazear died of the fever, the only one to die of all 
those brave men who proffered their lives to save their fellows 
from this dreaded scourge. 

Plant diseases.—Not only do the spore-bearers cause many 
animal as well as human diseases, but they also cause many 
plant diseases, producing untold losses in our crops. The smuts 
and rusts attack grain, fungi of various sorts invade fruits and 
vegetables, producing rot, others blight leaves, and still others 
attack timber and make it decay. Fortunately men are also 
learning how to prevent the invasion of plants by these disease- 
producing organisms. While disease germs gain access to 
animals and man largely by means of food or the air and so make 
the attack from the inside, they must as a rule alight on the 
outside of the plant and break down its protective covering or 
find it destroyed by a wound in order to get a foothold. They 
are therefore more easily accessible in the early stages of their 
growth and may be killed by spraying the plant surfaces with 


SPORE-BEARERS 


467 


some germicidal wash. Bordeaux mixture is the solution most 
commonly employed for this purpose. To make it, put one ounce 
of coarsely ground unslaked lime in a gallon of water and add 
an ounce of powdered copper sulphate; stir it thoroughly until 
the latter is all dissolved, when it is strained into the sprayer. 

The larger fungi.—There are many interesting larger fungi 
to be found growing out of doors. The puffball, which we 
studied at the beginning of the chapter, is a type of these. The 
one most familiar to adults, if not to children, is probably the 
edible mushroom, seen commonly in the stores. It is usually 
grown in cellar hotbeds. It is found in meadows, and is known 
as the meadow mushroom (.Agaricus campestris). Many people 
call this the mushroom , and call all the rest of the tribe toadstools. 
Some call all the edible species mushrooms and the poisonous 
ones toadstools. It is better, however, to use these terms inter¬ 
changeably, calling any of these forms either mushrooms or 
toadstools, and designating the inedible ones as poisonous 
mushrooms or poisonous toadstools. The reason for this is that, 
in some cases, one species may be poisonous and a very closely 
related one edible. It is as if you should call an American a man, 
but refuse to call a Chinaman a man. However, the matter is 
not one of any great importance, and local custom may well 
decide our usage of the terms. 

The common edible mushrooms .—We may study the com¬ 
mon edible mushroom as a type (Fig. 309). There are three 
distinct parts: (1) the foot, (2) the stem, (3) the cap, or umbrella¬ 
like portion, on the underside of which are the thin gills. As we 
have already understood, the entire structure that we call the 
mushroom is really the spore-bearing part of the fungus, the body 
of the fungus, the mycelium, being in the decomposing material 
that is underground (Fig. 312). The spores are, in this species, 
borne on the gills. When this mushroom first appears above the 
ground the gills are bright ribbon-pink, but later they become 
brown; there is a noticeable collar surrounding the upper part of 
the stem. In a clump of these mushrooms you will nearly always 


468 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


find some that are just coming out of the ground that have the 
pink gills and others in which the gills are changing to brown. 

The spores are brown, and it is 
the maturing of these spores 
that produces the change in the 
color. None of the other pink- 
gilled meadow fungi have brown 
spores, and this feature is, there¬ 
fore, quite distinctive. 

Spore prints .— Cut off the 
stem of the fungus close below 
the cap Lay the cap, gill side 
down, on a sheet of white paper 
and cover it with a tumbler. In 
the course of a few hours the 
spores will have discharged from 
the gills upon the paper and will 
lie in delicate radiating lines just 
under the gills. If in place of 
plain paper gummed paper is 
used, the spores will stick to its 
surface, as they are slightly moist 
when first discharged. By the 
use of such gummed paper one 
may obtain a very beautiful 
series of spore prints of the vari¬ 
ous fungi. The spores of unlike 
species are of different colors, 
so that one may have prints 
ranging from pinks and reds and 
yellows to blues and browns and 
black. 

The inky caps .—One of the common mushrooms with black 
spores is the inky cap. There are three kinds of these inky caps 
which we may eat, and there are several other kinds that are 




















SPORE-BEARERS 


469 


common in manure piles which we ordinarily do not eat. The 
little inky caps come up in large clusters (Fig. 310). The top 
of the cap is shaded with reddish brown, and looks as if it had 
been sprinkled with snow crystals, for there are so many little 
glistening particles upon it. There are tiny grooves running up 
and down the cap, and the umbrella is seldom wide open. These 
inky caps are short-lived. After the spores mature the whole 
cap collapses and comes to be merely a gelatinous mass, contain¬ 
ing the numerous black spores; and so the group of fungi when 



Fig. 310.—The little inky-cap fungus (Kaufman) 


mature looks like a sticky mass of ink. This glutinous mass is 
so much liked by the flies that they come to feed upon it, and 
carry away to other localities any spores that stick to their feet. 
The large inky cap is four to six inches tall, and as it breaks 
through the ground looks like an elongated egg, except that its 
shell is not smooth but shaggy (Fig. 311). The fungus is, there¬ 
fore, often called the shaggy-mane mushroom. In the early stages 
the gills are exquisite shades of pink and purple. One must cut 
the egg open to see this, however, for by the time the fungus is 
sufficiently expanded to show the gills they are turning black. 





470 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The plowed-ground mushroom —There is a mushroom that 
looks very much like the meadow mushroom but grows ordi¬ 
narily in the plowed fields. The gills of this mushroom are 
not as bright a pink, and if you pinch them or the stem or the 
edge of the cap the spot turns yellow. This is also one of the 
excellent edible mushrooms. 

Poisonous sorts .—In fact we are not likely to collect any 
of the poisonous sorts in the fields and meadows. They grow 
chiefly in the Woods. Nearly all of the species that grow on 

decaying woods, old rotting logs, 
and tree stumps are also edible. 
But there is no general rule by 
means of which one can tell 
whether a mushroom is edible 
or poisonous, though there are 
some tests that are sometimes 
used. It is said that if a silver 
coin is put into the water in 
which the mushroom is cooked 
the poisonous sorts will always 
turn it dark. This is, however, 
not infallible, and to most such 
rules there are so many excep¬ 
tions that they are unreliable. 
The only safe way is to know 
the individual mushrooms and to use only those that have been 
repeatedly tried and found safe. 

The deadly Amanita .—The most poisonous of all the mush¬ 
rooms is the deadly Amanita, or death’s angel (Fig. 313). This is • 
a beautiful white mushroom with white gills. There is a ring or 
collar around the upper part of the stem; and by digging down 
to the base of the stem one finds that it seems to grow out of a 
thimble-shaped cup. There is no difficulty in telling the mature 
edible sorts from this poisonous species. The mistake is likely 
to be made in taking the young mushrooms just as they are 



Fig. 311.—The large inky-cap 
fungus ( Coprinus ). 






i 

Fig. 312.—Mushrooms springing up from the roots of a cottonwood that had 
been cut down. 







472 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


breaking through the soil, for when they are in this button stage 
it is more difficult to identify them. 

Puffballs are edible; also oyster shells .—The puffballs, which 
we have already noted, are all edible when they are in the 
button stage—in fact, until the inside begins to turn black. In 
the woods one may find the giant puffball growing as large as 
one’s head, or even larger; one specimen of this is enough for a 
meal for a good-sized family. Here in the woods, too, one will 



Fig. 314.—The oyster-shell fungus growing on an oak stump 

likely find the oyster-shell fungus which grows out from an old 
tree trunk, like a soft and fleecy shelf (Fig. 314). There is 
practically no stem—a very short one, simply to attach the cap 
to the trunk—and this joins the cap, not on the underside, but 
at one edge. 

The morel—In the early spring one is very likely to find in 
the meadows a fungus with a peculiar cap (Fig. 315). It is 
straw-colored, or even darker, and is conical in form, with its 
surface honeycombed. This is the edible morel. The spores 
are discharged from the entire surface instead of being borne on 
gills. 




SPORE-BEARERS 


473 


The bracket fungus .—In one group of the fungi the spores are 
to be found lining numerous tiny tubes that open on the under¬ 
surface through tiny pores. Such fungi are known as polypores. 
One of the commonest is the bracket fungus which grows on old 
tree stumps (Fig. 316). One species is not uncommonly used 
by artists, for on the creamy undersurface of the immature 
plants sketches may be made with an ordinary pen. This fungus 
is gray or grayish brown above. If you break open a specimen 
of the Polyporus the numer¬ 
ous tiny tubes that contain 
the spores can readily be seen. 

The spores carried by the wind 
or by insects alight on some 
exposed wood undergoing de¬ 
cay, as in a wound of a tree or 
an old log, and start the new 
plant, the mycelium, that 
grows all through the wood 
tissue. Not infrequently 
great crops of mushrooms 
(not poly pores, however) 
come upon the lawn where a 
tree has been cut down, the 
roots being left below ground 

to decay (see Fig. 3 I2, p.471). Fzg. 3 iS.-The edible morel 

The “fairy rings” are such 

groups of fungi that spread into wider circles as the food 
material at the center is exhausted (Fig. 317). 

The shaggy and cup fungi .—In some fungi the spores, instead 
of being contained in tubes, are borne on numerous prolonga¬ 
tions of the undersurface, which give it a shaggy appearance 
(Fig. 318). These are known as the hydnum forms. In 
hunting fungi in the woods one’s attention will surely be 
called to some cup-shaped fungi that have a brilliant lining 
of red or yellow. These are known as the fairy cups, and were 










Fig. 316.—Bracket fungi on maple log 



Fig. 317.—The fairy ring fungus. As the organic material is exhausted by 
their growth the ring widens. 










SPORE-BEARERS 


475 


supposed to be the drinking utensils of those nymphs that inhabit 
the woods. 

You will find, in hunting fungi, that man is not the only 
animal that has learned their edible qualities. Many of them 
are the homes of beetles that feed upon them. Flies infest other 
species. Slugs and snails eat many other kinds.' 

Collecting fungi.—We have suggested the recognition marks 
of only a few of the very common sorts. Consult some such 
book as Mcllvaine’s One Thousand American Fungi if you wish 
to become acquainted with the numerous sorts that may be found 
in your own locality. The writer has collected over a hundred 
species in a single day. When 
collecting them, one should 
carry a basket or botanical 
collecting can and should also 
have a number of sheets of 
tissue paper, so that as the 
specimens are found they 
may be wrapped carefully, la¬ 
beled, and packed in the bas¬ 
ket or collecting can, where 

they will not get bruised. FIC. 3 x8.-The shaggy-cap fungus in 
. . .. . . . sections. 

Fungi may be studied in the 

schoolroom; and the record of the different species found may 
be kept by making descriptive notes about them and by water- 
color sketches. They are often such beautifully colored objects 
that they make good material for art work. 

The herbarium .—Since fungi are soft-bodied things it is 
difficult in many cases to preserve them. Many of the tougher 
kinds, however, lend themselves to preservation in the herbarium. 
If the specimens are laid in an oven and kept at moderate tem¬ 
perature (the door being left open), they will dry out, and when 
partly dried may be put between the sheets of the plant press and 
flattened down into such shape that they can be mounted on 
cards or on the ordinary herbarium paper. The press paper will 





476 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


need to be changed frequently and dried often. In the field, 
specimens may be dried in front of the camp fire. If sheets of 
corrugated paper are used in the plant press, together with the 
thin blotting paper, the press may be hung up over the fire so 
that the hot air will pass through the openings in the corrugated 
paper and hasten the drying. 

Pond scum.—There are two groups of spore-bearers quite as 
simple as are the fungi that do not usually force themselves upon 
our acquaintance, and yet they are met with often enough to 
make it worth while for the child to know them. These are the 
algae, often commonly known as pond scums, and the lichens— 
those grayish, brittle plants so frequently found on stones and 
tree trunks. One of the simplest algae is also found on tree 



Fig. 319.—Part of a filament of a pond scum ( Spirogyra ), showing the coiled 
green chloroplast in the cell. 


trunks. The tree, especially on its north side, or near the ground, 
looks as if it had been given a coat of green paint. In reality 
this is a layer of tiny plants no larger than yeast plants, growing 
all over the bark. The ponds and streams, however, are more 
likely places to find the algae. Here they grow in masses at the 
surface, or in green streamers waving in the current. The 
fibrous sorts are known as vegetable silk and do not appear very 
attractive, since they look like frothy beds of slimy stuff with 
water wrigglers squirming in them and an occasional green 
frog blinking from the midst. But the plants are really very, 
beautiful under the microscope, with their lustrous threads 
marked with bands or stars of green (Fig. 319). In the ocean 
the algae are very abundant and are commonly known as sea¬ 
weeds. These plants have holdfasts, like roots, simple stems 
and expanded parts that look much like leaves. They are 
often so tough as to withstand the wash of the waves,and some 









SPORE-BEARERS 


All 


grow to be very large: the giant kelp has at times a length of 
several hundred feet. 

The lichens. —Many of the lichens are very beautiful. They 
are really partnership plants: moldlike fungi and tiny algae live 
together and help each other. In the northernmost states and 
in Canada numerous lichens cover rocks and old logs (Fig. 320). 
In the Niddle States they must be hunted, and a gray-green 
Parmelia that is found on tree trunks, old fence boards, and 
stones is likely to be the one most commonly seen. Farther 
north reindeer moss (which is not a moss at all) covers rods, even 
acres, of soil (Fig. 321). It is a much-branched lichen, with 
brown tips on its branches. The pyxie lichen (Fig. 322) bears 
spreading cornucopias or trumpets of gray green as large around 
as a pencil and half an inch or so high; these are the umbrellas 
of fairy lore. The Cladonias, of which group the last two are 
samples, all have hollow stems, and many of the stems are 
branching. The branches of several species are tipped with 
brilliantly colored spore cases which look like bright red or brown 
drops of sealing wax (Fig. 323). 

The rocks are often brilliant with incrusting lichens—great 
patches of yellow, brown, or black, looking like paint, so closely 
do they cling. On the rocks, too, will be found rock tripe. 
This is one of the edible lichens and was an important article of 
food for the survivors of the Franklin Arctic Expedition. It 
grows like very thin circular crackers and is attached to the rock 
by a central stem. Above, it is gray to brown; below, black. 

Mosses. —How much the mosses add to the beauty of the 
out of doors, carpeting the waste places with their soft green, 
mollifying the harshness of jagged cliff, and covering the decay 
of fallen trees with a mantle of plush! And not only are they 
objects of beauty but they are very useful, for lichens and mosses 
are among the first plants to attack the rocks and cause them to 
disintegrate into soil. The former do not even need a crack to 
gain a foothold. Without the aid of these lowly spore-bearers 
our earth would be a dreary waste. 



Fig. 320.—A fibrous lichen (Usnea barbata ), pendent from spruce twig 



Fig. 321.—Reindeer moss 






SPORE-BEARERS 


479 


The hairy-cap moss .—The moss plant consists of two parts. 
In such a common moss as the hairy cap (Polytriehium) (Fig. 
324) these are plainly seen. The lower part of the plant is a 
leafy stem with holdfasts like tiny roots. The leaves are needle¬ 
like. Arising from the tip of this leafy part is a naked stalk, 
imbedded below in the stem, and above bearing a spore case. 
This spore case is covered with a hairy cap like a candle snuffer, 



Fig. 322.—The pyxie lichen 


which pulls way down over the spore case, and is frayed about 
its lower edge. When the spores are ready to discharge, this 
cap falls off, but it is a goxi protection while the spores are 
growing. In many moss capsules the top of the spore case is 
perforated with tiny holes in regular and beautiful pattern. Out 
of these the spores shake, like salt out of a salt shaker. Again, 
the edge of the capsule may bear many teeth, which when 
inturned retain the sporeS but which let them out when the teeth 
stand straight up. When the spores alight on moist earth, each 





480 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


one that is successful in establishing itself starts the growth of a 
new leafy moss plant. 

The urn moss .—The urn moss ( Phystomitrium ) (Fig. 325) 
is one that bears its capsules early. By the time the blue violets 
are in blossom in the spring this will be found fruiting in woodland 
borders and moist meadows. The patch of moss at this season 
bears thousands of the egg-shaped capsules on long stalks or 
setae. Each capsule wears a jaunty cap tipped with a long spike, 
like that on a soldier’s helmet. The lid comes off this capsule, 



Fig. 323.—A lichen found on tree trunks (Thelochlistes parietinus), showing 
the spore-bearing cups. 

as a cover lifts from a teakettle, and lets out the spores. The 
empty capsule looks then like a tiny urn. 

The cord moss .—About a month later ripe capsules will be 
found on the cord moss (Funaria hygrometrica ) (Fig. 326). This 
moss—by preference, apparently—inhabits such places as ash 
heaps, rubbish heaps, and bits of ground that have been recently 
burned over. The stalk that bears the capsules, when dry, is 
twisted like a string and seldom stands erect, but bends over as 
if with the weight of the spore case. A long point that sticks out 
nearly at right angles to the capsule makes the cap look like the 
head of a bird, the projecting point being its beak. When the 
capsules of this moss are dry, they are often fluted and bent into 




SPORE-BEARERS 


481 


fantastic shapes. Since the stalks absorb moisture, merely 
breathing on this dry moss will make the stalks untwist. They 
twist again, revolving the capsules, as they once more dry out. 




Fig. 324—The hairy- Fig. 325—The urn Fig. 326—The cord 

cap moss (cap removed moss 
from spore capsule) 


moss 









482 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


The knight’s plume moss .—Another very beautiful moss that 
is commonly found on old logs belongs to the genus Hypnum. 
It is known as the pinnate moss, or as the knight’s plume moss, 
because the leaves look somewhat like feathers or plumes. It 
forms bright green mats. There are several species of this genus, 
but the more common one is Hypnum imponens. The reddish 
stems of this moss branch regularly. The leaves curve to one 
side and usually bend down, while their tips are frequently turned 



Fig. 327.—The bracken fern 


under so as to form a hook. The spore capsules in this moss do 
not come from the ends of the stems as in those previously 
studied, but from the sides. They stand on nearly erect stems, 
are cylindrical in shape, and mature in the autumn or early 
winter. 

Ferns.—Of all the spore-bearers the ferns are most widely 
known and admired. Their graceful fronds are an ornament to 
any garden, and if one is possessed of a yard which he may 
decorate, one bed, preferably on the north side of the house, 




SPORE-BEARERS 


4 §3 



should be provided with rich loam and planted to ferns. It 
is a pleasure to stock it with specimens transplanted from the 
woods, and to study the habits of these dainty plants so as to 
know how to care for them. There is much variety in them, 
from the great fronds of the royal to the delicate tracery of the 
maidenhairs. It will well repay the trouble to attempt a bed 
in the school garden. Observe carefully the conditions of soil, 


Fig. 328.—The rock polypody fern 

shade, and moisture under which the ferns grow in their native 
haunts, and then try ' 0 duplicate them in the fern bed. 

The brake .—The tramp among ferns is the bracken, or brake 
(Fig. 327). It is a tough plant, needing no pampering in order 
to succeed. The leaf is divided into three leaflets, which arise 
from a common point on the stem; each leaflet is in general 
triangular and is compound. These ferns prefer rather dry, sandy 
soil and a cool climate. They grow rankly in the north woods, 
especially in burned-over lands. The spore cases are found in a 
continuous row all around the edge of the leaf, where they are 




484 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


protected by its inrolled margin. In many other ferns the 
spore cases are marginal, or nearly so, but not in continuous line. 
The tender young brake shoots, picked before the leaves un¬ 
roll, make a delicious vegetable when cooked and served like 
asparagus. 

The rock polypody .—The rock polypody {Polypodium vulgare) 
(Fig. 328) is a common type of the ferns in which the clusters of 



Fig. 329.—The sensitive fern, underground stem and all 


spore cases occur along the veins on the underside of the leaves. 
This fern is found growing among rocks or in the crevices of 
rocky cliffs. The leaves are relatively small, being only a foot 
or less in length. They are simple leaves, long and narrow, with 
deeply lobed margins. The color is deep green. 

The sensitive fern. The sensitive fern (Fig. 329) is one that 
prefers the borders of cool swamps. The spores are not borne 
upon the backs of the fronds, but upon a separate stalk, which is 





SPORE-BEARERS 


4$5 

really a leaf modified just for this purpose. The spore cases are 
held in berry-like bodies on either side of the opposite branches 
that are carried on this spore-bearing stalk. The vegetative leaf 
(the ordinary leaf) is one to four feet long, broadly triangular, 
and cut almost to the midrib into numerous narrow lobes with 
wavy or toothed edges. The fern is very sensitive to the early 
frosts, and in the fall is one of the first plants to wilt. 



Fig. 330.—Cinnamon fern 


The ostrich fern and its relatives .—The ostrich fern (Onoclea 
struthiopteris) likes the margins of streams. Its spores are borne, 
as in the sensitive fern, on a fertile stalk a foot or two high, 
which looks like a withered fern leaf with its edges inrolled. 
The vegetative leaves are two to seven feet long and a foot or less 
broad. There are three other common ferns, all growing in 
swampy places or low woods, which belong to the genus Osmunda. 
These are the cinnamon fern (Fig. 330), Clayton’s fern, and the 








4 86 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


royal fern. None of them have the spore cases on the backs of 
the ordinary leaves. The cinnamon fern has a circular cluster of 
large fronds one to five feet tall, with one or several fertile leaves 
within the cluster. These fertile leaves die down after maturity, 
and so may not be in evidence. The leaves are long, lance¬ 
shaped, and are made up of numerous leaflets that are themselves 
deeply divided. Spore cases are cinnamon brown, and the young 



Fig. 331.— A frond of Clayton’s fern 



Fig. 332. —Spore-bearing and sterile 
fronds of the royal fern. 


leaves are covered with reddish hairs. Clayton’s fern (Fig. 331) 
is very similar, except that its fronds are larger, and the fertile 
ones bear the spore cases only in their midregion; the rest of the 
frond is like an ordinary vegetative leaf. The royal fern ( Os- 
munda regalis) (Fig. 332) has leaves that are twice compound. 
The leaflets vary from oblong to narrowly egg-shaped forms. 
Ihe spores are borne, not on the back of these, but at the ends 
of the leaves, in clusters of modified leaflets. 








SPORE-BEARERS 


487 


The grape ferns and walking ferns .—In the grape ferns 
( Botrychium ) (Fig. 333), of which several species grow in the 
meadows while others grow in the woods, there is a single two 
or three times compound triangular leaf. From the base of this 
arises the spore-bearing portion—a stalk that has at its tip an 
erect cluster of spore-bearing leaflets, which look like a loose 
cluster of small grapes, except that they are brown. There is a 
curious fern known as the walking fern, which grows ordinarily 
in rocky places. The leaves are lance-shaped and simple, with 



Fig. 333.—The grape fern: at right a frond with the spore-bearing tip 


a very much elongated tip. When the end of this leaf touches 
the ground a new plant starts from it. Thus the plant advances 
by steps and is therefore named the walking fern. 

Some wood ferns .—The evergreen Christmas fern (Fig. 334) 
is a woods fern which also prefers the rocky places. The leaves 
are from six inches to two feet long, rather wide. The leaflets 
are narrowly lance-shaped, almost arrow-shaped at the base. 
The clusters of spore cases are round and each is covered with a 
nearly transparent membrane that has a stalk at its center. 
The oak fern (Fig. 335) is another fern of the woods. There is a 
large group of wood ferns known as the shield ferns. In this 




488 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


fern, also, the groups of spore cases are round, but the little mem¬ 
brane that covers them, known as the indusium, is heart-shaped 
or kidney-shaped, and is attached by the cleft of the heart. The 
leaves are compound, sometimes twice compound. In the wood- 
sias, which are also rock-loving ferns, the indusium spreads out 
in star-shaped form from underneath the clusters of spore cases. 



Fig. 334—The evergreen Christmas Fig. 335.—Frond of the oak fern 

fern with underground stem. 


Underground stem .—If one of these ferns (or any other 
common one) is rooted up, it will be found that the stem from 
which the leaves spring is all underground. (This is not true of 
tropical ferns, in which the stem is often a trunk of treelike 
proportions.) This underground stem, or root stalk, branches 
freely and grows continuously at its apex and also at the tips of 
its branches. It dies as continuously at the other end and there¬ 
fore separates into many independent root stalks. The root 
staJks all bear many roots. 











SPORE-BEARERS 


489 


Life-history of fern .—The spore of the fern, discharged from 
the leaf, falls directly to the ground or is carried some distance 
by the wind or possibly on the feathers or feet of a bird. It is 
so small that it may ride unnoticed for a long way before it drops 
in some moist spot of ground where it germinates. The outer 
coat breaks and liberates the living content as a single cell. 
This multiplies, and the mass of cells so formed assumes the 
shape of a tiny heart, a thin green pro thallium. This bears both 



Fig. 336.—Two species of horsetail 


eggs and sperm; and after the egg is fertilized it grows into the 
fern plant that we know. If you examine carefully a bed of ferns 
in the fall you will likely find these heart-shaped prothallia on the 
ground in any moist bare spot, and from some of them the little 
fern plant may be growing. Another good place to find them 
is at a florist’s, in pots of ferns, on the pots, in the soil of the 
benches, or often under the bench where the ferns are kept. If 
the life-history of any of the spore-bearers is to be traced at all 
completely, that of the fern is the easiest one for the children to 











Fig. 337.—Strobilus and a single spore of the horsetail, latter enlarged 



Fig. 338.—The trailing club moss 









SPORE-BEARERS 


491 


follow. Spores sprinkled on the surface of moist sand in a 
covered plant pot will grow and show these prothallia. 

The horsetails and the club mosses are close relatives of the 
ferns. The horsetails (Fig. 336) are easily known by the fact 
that their stems are jointed and pull apart without difficulty. 
The leaves, too, if present are needle-like and jointed. They 
are commonly found along the sandy fillings of railroad tracks, 
and also in the swamp margins, though it is a different species 
that is found in such locations. At the top of the stem, in some 
species on the leafy stalk, in others on a separate stalk, there 
grows a conelike cluster of spore cases (Fig. 337). Each little 
scaly leaf of the cone is umbrella-shaped, and underneath the 
umbrella are the spore cases. When the spores are ripe, you can 
dust them out into the palm of your hand; and if you breathe 
gently on them they appear to wriggle. Each spore is provided 
with four coiled hairs, which straighten out as they absorb 
moisture. Under a simple tripod lens, or a cheap linen tester, 
the spores form a writhing mass when they are slightly moistened 
by the breath. 

The stems of these horsetails or Equisetae are harsh with 
much silica deposited in them, the same substance that gives 
sapolio its scouring properties. Puritan housewives used a 
bunch of the stems for cleaning pans and the plant thus acquired 
another common name, the scouring rush. 

The club mosses (Fig. 338) are also called the ground pines, 
both of which names are unfortunate, because they are not mosses 
and they are not pines, though they are the next thing to the 
pines. These grow upon the ground, many of them in trailing 
fashion, and one, the Lycopodium clavatum , is very familiar as a 
Christmas green. The spores in most cases are borne in cone- 
shaped clubs that arise on slender, naked stalks at or near the tips 
of the branches. 


492 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 

Atkinson, George F. Mushrooms. New York: Henry Holt & Co. $3.00- 
Brown and Britain. Flora of Northern United States and Canada. Three 
vols. New York: Charles Scribner and Sons. $11.00. 

Bulletin of Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, Urbana. Vol. XI, 
art. vii. November, 1917. 

Clute, Willard N. The Fern Allies of North America. New York: F. A. 
Stokes Co. $2.50. 

-. Our Ferns in Their Haunts. New York: F. A. Stokes Co. $2.50. 

Cole, Emma L. T. Guide to the Mushrooms. Worcester, Mass.: C. K. 

Reed. $0.75. 

Farmers’ Bulletins: 

No. 146, Insecticides and Fungicides. 

No. 204, Cultivation of Mushrooms. 

No. 412, Typhoid or House Fly. 

No. 450, Some Facts about Malaria. 

No. 473, Tuberculosis; Plain Statement of Facts Regarding Disease for 
Farmers and Others Interested in Live Stock. 

No. 492, More Important Insect and Fungous Enemies of Fruit and 
Foliage of Apples. 

No. 507, Smuts of Wheat , Oats , Barley, and Corn. 

No. 530, Important Poultry Diseases. 

No. 544, Potato Tuber Diseases. 

No. 547, Yellow Fever Mosquito. 

No. 555, Cotton Anlhracnose and How to Control It. 

No. 625, Cotton Wilt and Root-Knot. 

No. 787, Mushroom Pests and How to Control Them. 

No. 856, Control of Diseases and Insect Enemies of the Home Vegetable 
Garden. 

Franklin and Franklin. Life of Pasteur. New York: Macmillan & Co. 
$1.25. 

Grout, A. J. Mosses with a Hand-Lens. Published by the author, 360 
Lenox Road, Brooklyn, N.Y. $1.75. 

Hopkins, Lewis S. The Ferns of Allegheny County. Botanical Society 
of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh. $1.25. 

Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station (La Fayette). Apple Diseases in 
Indiana. Circular No. 70. 

Keim and Lumet. Life of Pasteur. New York: F. A. Stokes & Co. $0.75. 

farmers’ bulletins are issued by the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, Washington, D.C. 



SPORE-BEARERS 


493 


Kellerman, W. A. Mycological Bulletin, giving descriptions of mushrooms. 

Many numbers published. Ohio State University, Columbus. 

Kelly, H. A. Walter Reed and Yellow Fever. Baltimore: Medical Standard 
Book Co. $1.50. 

Mcllvaine. One Thousand American Fungi. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill 
Co. $5.00. 

Marshall, Nina L. The Mushroom Book. New York: Doubleday, Page 
& Co. $4.00. 

-. Mosses and Lichens. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 

$4.00. 

Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station (Wooster). Mushrooms , Edible and 
Poisonous. Circular No. 153. 

Parsons, F. T. How to Know the Ferns. New York: Charles Scribner and 
Sons. $1.50. 

Plant Industry Bulletins, Washington, D.C.: 

No. 51, Wilt Diseases of Tobacco and Its Control. 

No. 85, Principles of Mushroom Growing and Mushroom Spawn Making. 
No. 152, Loose Smuts of Barley and Wheat. 

No. 174, Control of Peach Brown Rot and Scab. 

No. 216, Rusts of Grains in the United States. 

Public Health Bulletins, Washington, D.C.: 

No. 30, The Rat in Relation to Public Health. 

No. 36, Tuberculosis, Its Nature and Prevention. 

No. 42, Disinfectants. 

Underwood, L. M. Our Native Ferns. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 
$1.00. 

Waters, Campbell E. Ferns. New York: Henry Holt & Co. $3.00. 
Winslow, Anne Rogers. Microbes Good and Bad. Boston: Health Educa¬ 
tional League, 8 Beacon Street. $0.04. 



APPENDIX 


There is given a list of a few firms from which apparatus and 
supplies may be obtained. There are many others equally good, 
but these the author has found reliable and accommodating. A 
complete list would be confusing and occupy space unnecessarily. 

Bausch and Lomb Optical Co., Rochester, N.Y. Lanterns, magnifiers. 

Cambridge Botanical Supply Co., Waverley, Mass. 

Central Scientific Co., 345 W. Michigan St., Chicago, Ill. Lantern 
slides, apparatus, biological preparations. 

Chicago Biological Supply House, 5505 Kimbark Ave., Chicago, Ill. 
Animal material, plants, lantern slides, etc. 

Conrad Slide and Projection Co., 4028 Jackson Blvd., Chicago, Ill. 
Lantern slides of common flowers, etc. 

Denton Brothers, Wellesley, Mass. Butterflies and insect mounts. 

Hough, R. B., Lowville, N.Y. Tree sections. 

Kaemfer, Fred, 88 State St., Chicago, Ill. Living animals. 

The Kny-Scherer Co., 410 W. 27th St., New York City. Insects, 
mounts, life-histories, and general biological materials. 

McIntosh Stereopticon Co., Chicago, Ill. Lanterns and slides. 

Mumford, A. W., 536 S. Clark St., Chicago, Ill. Bird pictures. 

National Audubon Society, New York City. Bird pictures. 

Perry Picture Co., Malden, Mass. Bird and other nature pictures. 

Root, A. I., Co., Medina, Ohio. Bee supplies. 

Spencer Lens Company, Buffalo, N.Y. Lanterns, magnifiers, etc. 

Underwood and Underwood, New York City. Lantern slides, including 
a nature-study series. 

Ward’s Natural Science Establishment, Rochester, N.Y. Mounted 
birds and animals and other natural-history material. 

W. M. Welch Manufacturing Company, 1516 Orleans St., Chicago, Ill. 
Weed seeds, plant mounts, charts, etc. 


494 











% 



* 



INDEX 



INDEX 


Adaptation, 159 
Adjustment, 213 
Alder, tag, 336, 337 
Algae, 476 
Ailanthus, 333 

Amaranth: low, 257; spiny, 267; tall, 
288, 289 

Animal: color, 211, 212; weapons, 209 

Annelida, 67 

Anseres, 156, 158 

Antennae, 17, 58, 71 

Anthrax, 464 

Ants, 98; house, 98 

Aphids, 117 

Appendix, 494 

Apple, 377; varieties, 377; worm, 82 

Aquarium, 3; plants for, 6 

Arbor vitae, 313 

Argiope, 134 

Arthropods, 67 

Asellus, 22 

Ash, 317; mountain, 337; prickly, 334 
Asparagus, 425 
Asters, 285 

Bacteria, 455, 45 8 > 460, 461 
Ballooning spiders, 135 
Balsam, 313 
Basswood, 330 
Bath, bird, 180 
Bean, 384, 388, 413 
Beasts of burden, 193 
Beaver, 304, 306 
Bedstraw, 260 
Bee bird, 162 

Beech, 326; water, 325, 326 
Beef clubs, 446 
Beehive, 106, 108 
Bees, 103 


Beetles, 117; click, 124; eyedelater, 124; 
diving, 2, 31; fiery hunter, 122; 
ground, 117, 122; horned Passaltis, 
124; ladybird, 125; long-horn, 125; 
potato, 117; searcher, 122; tiger, 
120, 123; water scavenger, 31, 34; 
whirligig, 31, 34, 35; woodborers, 
123 

Beggar-ticks, 268, 271, 272 
Bibliographies, 55, 137, 188, 231, 308, 
367, 409, 447, 492 
Bindweed, 253, 265 
Birch, 321 

Bird: bath, 180; enemies, 182; feeding, 
181; feet of, 160; food of, 162; head 
of, 159; houses, 178; wing of, 160 
Birds, 141; and insects, 165; as weed 
destroyers, 167 
Blackbird family, 154, 162 
Blossom parts, 237 
Bluejay, 155, 162 
Bobolink, 162, 173, 174 
Bordeaux mixture, 84, 467 
Bouncing Betty. See Soapwort 
Box elder, 317 
Bread making, 458 

Breathing of insect, 62; of plant, 397; 
pores, 396 

Breeding, chickens, 225 

Brown thrasher, 153, 154 

Bryophytes,. 67 

Buckeye, 317 

Buckhorn, 262 

Buckwheat, wild, 254 

Buds, 314 

Buffalo bur, 266 

Bugs, 31, 59, ”5 

Bulbs, 415 

Bullfrog, 47 

Burdock, 268, 270 

Butcher bird, 153 

Butter and eggs, 284, 285 

Butter making, 229 


497 


498 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Butterflies, 86; anglewing, 93; cab¬ 
bage, 90; fritillary, 90; hairstreak, 
93; monarch, 87; mourning cloak, 
90; painted lady, 92; papilio, 94; 
sulphur, 92; swallowtail, 93; viceroy, 
89; food plants of, 96 
Butterfly weed, 274 

Cabbage, 421, 424; butterfly, 90 
Caddis fly, 32 
Cages for pets, 195 
Campion, 272, 273 
Canning clubs, 392, 445 
Canthocampus, 23, 25 
Carbon dioxide, 398, 400, 402 
Carrot, wild, 253 
Castor bean, 389 

Cat, 203, 207, 208, 213, 217; bird des¬ 
troyer, 185; trap, 187 
Catalpa, 315 
Catbird, 153 
Catchfly, 272 
Catnip, 277, 281 
Cauliflower, 421 
Cecropia, 72 

Cedar.: red, 313; white, 313 
Cheese weed, 258, 259 
Cheetah, 192 
Cherry, 323 
Chess, 282 
Chickadee, 151 

Chicken, 206, 208, 217; breeding, 225; 
breeds of, 218; feeding, 223; house, 
218; trap nest, 221 
Chick weed, 256, 257 
Chironomus, 37 
Chrysalis, 70 
Chub, 53 
Cicada killer, 115 
Cladocerans, 26 

Clam, 2, 9, 14; foot, 13; mantle, 14; 

shell, 13; siphon, 2 
Classification, 66, 67 
Cleavage of egg, 45 
Clotbur, 267 
Clothes moth, 85 

Clover, 247; alsike, 249; red, 248; 
sweet, 248; white, 248 


Club moss, 490, 491 
Cocklebur, 267, 269 
Cockroaches, 64 
Cocoons, 73, 75 
Coffee tree, 332 
Coleoptera, 67 

Collecting: fungi, 475; insects, 127; 
net, 3 

Corn, 389, 390, 441, 443; clubs, 393, 
443 

Corn cockle, 272, 273 
Corydalis, 33 
Cotyledons, 389 
Courtship, spider, 134 
Cover design, 97, 234, 345 
Cow, 205, 209, 211, 215, 227; breeds, 
227; feed, 229 
Cowbird, 155 
Crab, wild, 337 
Crane order, 157 

Crayfish, 16; chimney, 19; eggs of, 20; 

mating of, 20; molting of, 21 
Creeper: brown, 151; family, 151 
Cricket: ear, 60; music, 59; wing, 60 
Cricketfrog, 48 
Crow, 162; family, 155 
Crustacea, 67; classification of, 22 
Crustaceans, 21, 23 
Cultivation, 408 
Currants, 426 

Cuttings, 417, 426; setting out, 42c, 
422 

Cyanide bottle, 129 
Cyclops , 23, 25, 26, 27 
Cypress, 311 
Cypris , 23, 26, 27 

Daisy, oxeye, 285, 295 
Damsel fly, 27, 31 
Dandelion, 245, 262 
Daphnia, 23, 26, 27 
Deciduous trees, 313 
Deer, 205 

Development of eggs, 43 
Devil’s darning needle, 27 
Diaptomus, 25 
Diptera , 67 


INDEX 


499 


Disease and flies, 125 
Diseases, 462, 466 
Dispersal of seed, 302 
Distribution, 216; local, 67, 122 
Dityscus, 2 
Dobson, 2, 31, 33 
Dock, 262, 264, 265; bur, 268 
Dodder, 255 

Dog, 192, 203, 207, 209, 211, 215 
Dogbane, 243 
Dog fennel, 276, 279 
Dogwood, flowering, 318. 

Dolomedes , 41 
Doormat. See Knotweed 
Dragon fly, 27; life-history, 28; molt, 
29; nymph, 2, 28 
Drinking, methods, 207 
Drone, 105 
Dust, 461 

Egg, 240, 241 

Eggs: of frog, 42; of moth, 71 
Elephant, 193 
Elm, 326, 327 
Embryo, 44 
Equisetum, 490, 491 
Eubranchipus, 23, 25 
Evergreens, 309 
Extermination, insects, 65 
Eyes: compound, 58; simple, 58 

Falcon, 192 
Feed for chickens, 223 
Feeding pets, 201 
Feeding-shelf, bird, 183 
Fern frond, 452 

Ferns, 482; bracken, 483; cinnamon, 
485; Clayton’s, 485, 486; evergreen 
Christmas, 487, 488; grape, 487; oak, 
489; ostrich, 485; rock polypody, 
452, 484; royal, 486; sensitive, 484; 
walking, 487 
Fertilization, 239, 240 
Fibrovascular bundles, 237, 348 
Finch family, 153 
Fires in forests, 356 
Firming, 408 


Fish, 52; movements of, 27; rearing, 
53 

Fleabane, 293, 294 
Flies, 125 

Flower: seed, 414, 419, 425; show, 371 
Fly: black, 31, 37; harlequin, 37; 

stone, 31, 32 
Flycatcher family, 155 
Food: of birds, 162; plants of moths 
and butterflies, 95 
Foods in seed, 388 
Forests, 350, 351 

Frog: bull, 47; cricket, 48; green, 47; 
pickerel, 48; spring, 47; tree, 48; 
wood, 48; eggs of, 42 
Fruit, 239; display, 375; trees, 431 
Fungi, 450, 467 

Fungus: Amanita, 471; bracket, 473, 
474; cup, 473; inky cap, 468, 469, 
470; fairy ring, 474; meadow, 468; 
shaggy, 473, 475 
Fur, 209 
Furniture, 346 

Gallinae, 156 
Gallinule, 158 
Gammarus , 23, 24 

Garden, 410; home, 427; laying out, 
410; on farm, 428; paths, 413; 
school, 410; types, 411 
Garlic, 275 
Gaura, 292 
Germinator, 380 
Gills: insect, 40; of crayfish, 18 
Ginkgo, 328, 330 
Glass, cutting, 100 

Glass tubing: bending, 403; breaking, 
402 

Goldenrod, 285, 287 
Grafting, 432; wax, 433 
Grapes, 427 

Grass: barnyard, 281, 283; cheat, 282; 
crab, 279, 281; foxtail, 281; old 
witch, 280, 282; quack, 283, 284; 
sandbur, 267, 270; spreading pani- 
cum, 280, 282; squirreltail, 281, 284; 
vanilla, 282 
Grebe order, 158 
Grosbeaks, 153 
Ground pine, 490, 491 
Growth, conditions of, 399 


5 °° 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Gulls, 158 

Gum: sour, 327; sweet, 334 

Hackberry, 324 

Hawks, 164 

Hawthorn, 334 

Hazel, witch, 335, 337 

Hemlock, 313; poison, 253; water, 253 

Hemp: Indian, 245; wild, 275, 276 

Henhouse, 218 

Herbarium, 475 

Heron order, 158 

Hibernation, 211 

Hickory, 324 

Hickory-horned devil, 73, 74 
Horehound, 277, 280 
Hornbeam, 325 
Horse, 209, 211, 215 
Horse chestnut, 316 
Horse nettle, 267 
Horsetail, 490, 491 
Horseweed, 293 
Hound’s-tongue, 269, 272, 276 
House fly, disease carrier, 459 
Hunter, animals that aid, 192 
Hybrid: corn, 441; grains, 440; peas, 
437; wheat, 440 
Hybridization, 436 

Imago, 70 

Insect: breathing, 39; cage, 57; rate 
of multiplication, 165 
Insects: ravages of, 164; and pollina¬ 
tion. See Pollination 
Instinct, 114 
Iron wood, 326 

Ivy: ground, 258, 259; poison, 246 

Jimson weed, 269, 270, 273, 276 
Juneberry. See Shadbush 
Juniper, 313 

Katydid, 64 
Killing insects, 128 
Kingbird, 162 

Kinglet, golden-crowned, 151; ruby- 
crowned, 151 
Knot weed, 256 
Koch, Robert, 462 


Lamb’s-quarters, 289, 290 
Larch, 311 

Larva: Cecropia moth, 72; tomato- 
worm moth, 71; walnut moth, 74 
Lawn, 43 s 
Leaf, 395 
Leek, 275 

Lettuce, prickly, 245 
Lichens, 476, 478, 479 
Light, determines migration, 27 
Limbs of animals, 214 
Linden, 330, 331 
Lithobius, 131 
Loco weed, 250 

Locust, 58, 62; 331, 333; egg-laying, 
61; plague, 63 
Lumbering, 346 

Males, 209 

Mallow, creeping, 258, 259 
Mandrake, 239, 240 
Mantis, 91 
Maples, 317 

May apple. See Mandrake 
May-fly nymph, 30, 31 
Melilotus, 249 
Mendel’s laws, 437 
Mensbrtigghe float, 42 
Migration, 27, 63; bird, 168; rate of 
bird,-170; time of bird, 175; cotton- 
boll weevil, 121; gypsy moth, 81; 
potato beetle, 120; weed, 297 
Milk analysis, 228 
Milkweed, 242, 274 
Milliped, 131 
Minnows, 53 

Mocking-bird family, 153 
Molds, 452 
Mollusca, 15, 67 
Molting, 20, 29, 61 
Money bugs, 31, 34 
Morel, edible, 472 

Morning-glory, 253, 254; bindweed, 254 
Mosquito: and malaria, 465; and 
yellow fever, 465; larva, 34, 35, 36 
Mosses, 477; cord, 480, 481; hairy 
cap, 479, 481; knight’s plume, 482; 
urn, 480, 481 


INDEX 


501 


Moths: apple, 82; brown tail, 80; 
Cecropia, 72; clothes, 85; gypsy, 80; 
Polyphemus, 75; royal walnut, 74; 
tomato, 71; tussock, 78, 79; food- 
plants of, 95 
Mountain ash, 337 
Mucor, 453 
Mulberry, 338 
Mullein, 260, 261 

Mushrooms, 467; aminita, 470; 
bracket, 472, 473; cup, 473; inky 
cap, 468, 469, 470; meadow, 467, 
468; morel, 472; puffball, 450, 457, 
470; shaggy, 473, 475 
Music, cricket, 59 
Muskrat, 205, 210 
Mustard, 295, 296 
Myriopoda, 67 

Nests: birds’, 144; cliff swallow, 147; 
heron, 147; herring gull, 146; marsh 
wren, 148; oriole, 144; swallow, 147; 
tern, 145; thrasher, 146; woodcock, 
145 

Net for collecting, 3 
Nightshade, 289, 291 
Notebook, 344, 345 
Nuthatch, red-breasted, 152 
Nymph, 28 

Oaks, 327, 329 
Onion, wild, 275,. 278 
Opposite branches, 315 
Orange, Osage, 334 
Orthoptera, 64, 67 
Owls, 162 
Oxidation, 399 

Oxygen: plant needs, 399; plant gives 
off, 401 

Palaemonetes, 21, 23, 25 
Palpi, 58, 132 
Parasites, 74, 76 
Parsley family, 252, 253 
Parsnip, 252, 253 
Passeres, 149 
Passion flower, 255 
Pasteur, Louis, 462 
Pea, 389, 439; hybrids, 437 


Pencillium , 454 
Pennyroyal, 278, 280 
Peppergrass, 292 
Pepperidge, 327 
Peppermint, 277, 280 
Pets, 193; care of, 197 
Photosynthesis, 400 
Pig, 215, 217; clubs, 391, 444 
Pigeons, 156, 208 
Pigweed. See Amaranth 
Pine: pitch, 311; red, 311; scrub, 311; 
seeds, 390 

Pink root. See Amaranth 
Plankton, 27 

Plant: diseases, 466; parts of, 235 
Plantain, 237, 260, 263; English, 262 
Planting plan, 434 
Plover, golden, 171, 173 
Poison: for insects, 65; ivy, 246, 247 
Poisonous plants, 245, 246, 250, 251, 
253, 269, 288, 290 
Pokeweed,-288 

Pollination, 240; insects and, 243, 244, 
291 

Polygyra, 10 
Polyphemus moth, 75 
Polypody, rock, 452, 484 
Polypores, 473 
Pond scum, 476 
Poplars, 319 

Potato: growing, 443; wild, 253 
Primrose, evening, 239, 290 
Projects, 430, 436 
Propagation, 303 
Protection, animal, 208 
Pteridophytes, 67 
Puffball, 450, 451, 470 
Purple martin, 153 
Purslane, 257, 258 

Queen Anne’s lace. See Wild parsnip 
Queen bee, 105, 106 

Rabbits, 204, 211 
Rabies, 465 
Ragged robin, 273 

Ragweed: giant, 275, 277; lesser, 293 


502 


OUR LIVING WORLD 


Rats, 204 
Redbud, 332 

Respiration in plants, 397 
Ribwort. See Plantain 
Rings of growth, 348 
Robin, 149 
Rodents, 204 

Root, getting into ground, 386 
Root hairs, 382 

Sandbur, 267, 270 
Sandpipers, 157 
Sassafras, 330 

Scale: cottony, 117; San Jose, 117 
School furniture, 461 
Seed, 371; coats, 387; growth of, 384; 
parts of, 384, 388; plot, 442; pods, 
238; position in soil, 413; race, 382; 
swelling of, 385 

Senses of animals, 212 
Sew fly, 27 
Shadbush, 336 
Sheep, 205, 214 
Sheep sorrel, 287 
Shepherd’s-purse, 292, 293 
Shrike family, 153 
Shrimp, fairy, 23, 25 
Shrimps, 21, 23 
Silkworm, 77; disease, 463 
Slips, 418 
Slugs, 14, 16 
Smartweed, 286, 287 
Smell, 213 

Snail: breathing, 8; eggs, 8; foot, 7; 
land, 10,12,15; mantle, 9; mouth, 7; 
water, n 
Snake doctor, 27 
Snipe order, 157 
Snow-on-the-mountain, 246, 247 
Soap wort, 236, 271 

Soil: acid, 405; structure, 405; water 
content, 406 

Spanish needles, 268, 272 

Sparrows, 153; English, 182; poison¬ 
ing, 183; trap, 184 
Spearmint, 277, 280 
Spermatophytes , 67 


Sphaeridac, 15 

Spider: courtship of, 134; diving, 40; 

spinnerets of, 132 
Spiders, 132 

Spore: germination, 451, 455, 459; of 
equisetum, 490, 491; of fern, 489 
Spore-bearers, 450 
Sporobolus, 131 
Spraying, 84 
Spreading-board, 129 
Spruce, 313 
Spurge, 245 
Squash bug, 115 
Squirrel, 204, 211 
Sterilization, 455, 456 
Stickleback, 54 
Stinking Willie, 276 
Stomata, 396 

Strobilus of equisetum, 490 
Sumac, 333 
Sunfish, 53 
Surface film, 41 
Swallow family, 153 
Swallowtail butterflies, 94 
Swarming, 105 
Swijmmerets, 17 
Sycamore, 324 

Tadpole, 46 
Tansy, 276, 293 
Tern, 158 
Thallophytes, 67 

Thistle: bull, 266; Canada, 266; 

Russian, 263, 265; sow, 245 
Thorn apple, 269 

Thrush: blueback, 150; family, 149; 
hermit, 151; red-breasted, 149; wood, 
iSi 

Titmouse family, 151 
Toad, 48 

Toadflax, 284, 285 
Tomato worm, 69 

Tomatoes, 421, 423; varieties, 423 
Tracheal tubes, 39 
Transpiration, 395 
Trap nest for hen, 221 


INDEX 


Trays for planting, 420 
Tree: collections, 342; fruit, 431; 
growth, 347; key, 361; map, 342; 
planting, 431; propagation, 430; 
study methods, 338 
Tree frog, 48 
Tulip tree, 330 
Turkey, 206 

Turtles, 49; box, 51, 52; geographic, 
49; musk, 49; painted pond, 49; 
snapping, 50, 51; soft shell, 51; 
spotted, 49 
Tussock moth, 78 

Umbrella wort, 271 

Vaccines, 464 

Vegetable seed, 414, 419, 425 
Vermin, extermination, 65 
Vertebrates, 67 
Vervain, 274,^75 
Vetch, 249 

Walnut, 324 
Warbler, mourning, 172 
Warblers, 151, 154 

Wasps, in; digger, 113; mud dauber, 
113; Polistes, 112; Vespa, 111 
Wastes, plant, 404 

Water: boatman, 38; breathing, 39; 
bug, giant, 2, 31, 39; in plant, 394, 
395; plants, 6; scorpion, 35, 37; 


503 

skater, 35, 37; sowbug, 22; strider, 
2, 35, 37; tiger, 2, 31, 33 
Weapons of animals, 209 
Webs of spiders, 133 
Weeds, 235; collection, 305; garden, 
306; identification, 241; table of, 
298 

Wheat, 441 

Whiskers of animals, 213 
Whistle, 350 
Whorls, 311 

Wild traits of tame animals, 202 

Willow, 321, 322 

Willow herb, 291 

Witch-hazel, 335, 337 

Wolf spiders, 136 

Wolves, 209, 211 

Wood frog, 48 

Wood sorrel, 259 

Woodbine, 246 

Woodlot, farmer’s, 359 

Woodpeckers, 156 

Woods, uses of, 345 

Wormwood, 294, 295 

Yard, planting, 435 
Yarrow, 276, 279 
Yeast, 457, 458 
Yellow fever, 465 
Yew, 313 


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